My name is Conan Zhao. I was born in an urban city in Northern China , where I spent the first 14 years of my childhood exploring my surroundings and where my interests lie. Shortly before completing middle school I came to the United States to reside in Tujunga, California, where I attended Verdugo Hills High School and graduated as a valedictorian in the Class of 2009.
I made a transition from doodling cartoon characters to learning to draw realistic figures during my sophomore year. But it wasn’t until I took my first art class as a junior that I started to think like an artist. Although I never quite got used to the weekly class critiques and assignments that infrequently caught my interest, I did, however, gain more perspective on ART than I would have elsewhere.
“Nothing that is worth having in life comes easy.” — Dr. Kelso. Scrubs. |
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Starting with portraits of celebrities and moving on to drawings of the pictures I took on my own, I gradually developed a preference in style and improvement in technique. Although it is my principal to draw a subject as they truly are, I often like to add, or emphasize on, certain aspects that I believe will convey them more than what the picture itself could. I first started experimenting with oil in 11th grade and have been practicing ever since. The more practice and research I put into this new medium, the more I realize how fundamental and important pencil drawing is as the basic knowledge in regards to such an advanced medium. I now enjoy painting greatly as it relaxes me and it is a way to escape troublesome thoughts. My works of art have won awards in the Los Angeles Asian&Pacific Islander Art Contest sponsored by Disney and the High School Art Contest sponsored by Wilshire City Rotary Club, California; been exhibited twice in the Annual High School Art Exhibition held at California State University, Northridge, and L.A city “Stop the Machine” exhibition; also with two more pieces published in books. I am currently a freshman at University of California, Berkeley, with an intended double major in Mathematics and Fine Arts. I do not know where the combination will take me, but I figure that one might as well pursue what he feels most passionate about. |
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