Zelene Jiang Schlosberg

Zelene Jiang Schlosberg is a relief sculptural painter and curator who has exhibited throughout the United States and internationally in the United Kingdom, China, South Korea, and Hong Kong. Notable solo exhibitions include Gallery 456 in New York, Woldt Gallery in London, Schoenherr Gallery at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, and East Central College Art Gallery in Union, Missouri. Recent collective shows include Bendix Art Night in Los Angeles, CSI Project Space in Chicago, and Xiao Space Art in Evanston, Illinois. Recent publications include Shoutout LA, Bold Journey, World Journal, and Artist Talk Magazine. 

The inspiration behind Zelene’s works come from old master paintings, such as Hieronymus Bosch and Chinese ink landscapes. She breaks down her works into icons and imagined geometry which leads to relief sculptural effects in the paintings with canvas cut out and subtracted from the composition. Somewhere in between a landscape, still life, representation of an interior, and figurative work, Zelene’s paintings evade categorization in theme and create asymmetrical patterns and rich planes of color variation. She blends elements of abstraction, geometric design, and representational symbolism into one cohesive work of art.

Portraying a range of subject matter from flowers, interiors, as well as figures, her people in the paintings tend to be slender, stylized beings depicting representations of colors which act as an anchor and integration towards these colorful compositions, rather than a source of contrasted interaction. These planes of color represent joy in the sheer splendor of tone and pleasant geometry, while the cut out canvas represents negative space and creates a sense containing depth of field as well as scope of flatness revealing three-dimensional inclinations. Although overall pleasing, the paintings contain an air of mystery in the concealment of the emotionless figures void of any facial expressions. The angular asymmetrical design of the geometry in the works are sometimes shaped in ways which act as a provocation, much like a knife’s blade or razor edge of a cliffside. 

Glide (pictured above) represents a playful painting of figures ranging in activity from dancing, diving, walking, or standing in pose. The figures almost seem like representations of aliens with their extraterrestrial color and imaginative antennas. We find the composition contains stylized elements of interiors, architecture, and landscapes invoking a sense of an abstracted interpretation rather than an abstraction. Stripes within the planes accentuate senses of staircases and the flat shapes as well as dots seem to indicate both interior and exterior walls. A complex piece which creates a mysterious conviction in analytical and distorted perspective.

Zelene Jiang Schlosberg’s paintings contain both jubilant and enigmatic elements, with provocative shapes and color coordinations which resemble or pay homage to color field paintings. Such an integration of planes regarding technique and conceptual approach within the works indicate a deeply inspired artist invoking complex identity and interpretation of relationships with space, as well as a reinterpretation of our notions regarding perspective. These playful conundrums containing symbolic characters, accentuated interiors as well as hints of landscapes reveal a complex depth of field and inclination to invoke creative planes from multiple angles of distortion. Zelene is a gifted painter who challenges the viewer to reinterpret their surroundings, through a personalized iconography and an imagined space filled with distinctive traits, attributes and signs. 

https://www.zeleneschlosberg.com