Chunbo Zhang's Food Treasure series artistically explores the interplay of American and Chinese cultures through food. Living in Chicago, she began painting in 2018 to bridge the gap between her Chinese heritage and American food culture, which she found excessively sweet and rich. The series features large-scale depictions of both familiar and foreign dishes, through which she emphasizes tensions between different cultural ideals. By combining motifs from antique Asian porcelain, Zhang invites viewers to consider the significance of food in shaping cultural identity and the potential for merging distinct traditions.
Reflecting Zhang's anxieties, the works ask, Do the two cultures fight each other or can they merge? Questions like this are fundamental to the series.
The artist found American dairy products difficult to digest and popular desserts like donuts and Oreos far too sweet, showcasing her struggle with cultural adaptation.
Zhang emphasizes myriad tensions in her work: hard and soft, raw and cooked, inedible and nourishing, ancient and contemporary, highlighting cultural complexities.
Food Treasure depicts many of the dishes on a larger scale, nodding to both the immense portions of the American diet and the impact meals have on identity.
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