1. He rose to fame by painting his dog
Zhou Chunya launched his career with detailed realist paintings, then moved into semi-abstraction before devising his own unique style that combined German abstract expressionism with Chinese calligraphy. But it was his “Green Dog” series that really caught the art world’s attention.
In 1993, Zhou adopted a German Shepherd puppy, which soon began to feature as a character in his paintings: a large green-coloured dog that seems to display human emotions. “The green dog is an emblem, a symbol,” Zhou has previously said, though it’s up to the viewer to decide what they think the dog is a symbol of.
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