Artist's
Biography |
Simon Xianwen Zeng learned oriental
artwork, including calligraphy, paintings, and seal engravings, all
back in China; starting at the young age of 12.
Before immigrating to the US, he had
spent 17 years honing his artistic craft, winning national prizes for
his artwork.
As for Mr. Zeng's Western artwork, he
studied at the Art Students League of New York.
He says "I like and respect them
both. I think they are all great art.
The various differences in culture,
history, and artistic instruments allow for numerous styles of
artwork.
But regardless of whether the piece
is oriental or western, good artwork should express the truth,
virtue, and beauty of humanity;
instilling within the viewer a sense
of joy and happiness, and provoking deep contemplation and
reflection."
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Simon Xianwen
Zeng was born in a scholar's family in the
historic town of Jinzhou, Dalian city,
in southern Liaoning, China.
His calligraphy began in the Kai style of the Tang
Dynasty, and then followed in the cursive and running styles of
the Wei and Jin Dynasties, as Mr. Zeng developed his
primitive, measured, nature, and sometimes humorous style.
Mr. Zeng believes that calligraphy should express the
noble, pure, and spiritual feelings of the artist.
His painting draws upon the Painting Collection of
Sanxitang, and Jieziyuan, and other important painting styles
of past and present, and represents the graceful
shape of objects thorough skillful brush abstraction.
His chop engraving, derived from that of the Han
Dynasty, and carved in the strong style passed down by
the master Zhan Ao Liu, represents a style of
classical strength. |
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In
1996, Mr. Zeng immigrated to
the US for his artistic
pursues. He
has taught college
courses on the
subject of oriental art
and has held a number of exhibitions of his own works.
He works and lives as a
independent professional artist in New
York City.
Published Works and
Exhibitions
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- 1992 Painting selected for inclusion in exhibition called
Tang and Song Dynasty
Poems, a collection of
paintings, calligraphy and chop engraving touring Japan.
- 1992 Calligraphy published in The
Excellent Works Collection of Contemporary Adult Calligraphers and
Seal Cutters by the Chinese Calligraphers
Association, Shandong Province Art Publishing
Company, Shandong, China.
- 1993 Calligraphy selected for inclusion in
Selected Works of Twentieth Century
Chinese and Korean Calligraphers Works.
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- 1993 Calligraphy
selected for entry in the Beijing 2000 Olympics: First
International Exhibition of Painting and
Calligraphy, held in Beijing China,
sponsored by the Chinese Calligraphers
Association and Chinese Artists
Association). A national exhibition to show
the full range of art in China.
Exhibited in Yan Huang Museum in Beijing.
- 1993 Painting and Calligraphy shown at the Chinese
Calligraphy and Painting
Exhibition Shandong providence, China. Sponsored by the
Chinese
Calligraphers Association, Shandong providence branch.
- 1993 Selected for inclusion the Appreciating Ancient and
Modern Calligraphy by
Chinese Calligraphers Association (Yellow River Publishing
Company,
Jinan, China).
- 1993 Work collected by the Sichuan Museum of Calligraphy.
- 1994 Calligraphy selected for entry in Beijing 1994 Fu
Shou (Prosperity and
longevity) works of contemporary painters and calligraphers,
exhibited in
Gu Zhong Museum in Beijing. Only 200 works chosen from
nationwide entries.
Catalog published by the National Cultural Publishing
Company.
- 1994 Calligraphy selected for Liao Ning Providence
Calligraphy Exhibition.
Sponsored by Liao Ning Providence Calligraphy Artist
Association.
- 1994 Calligraphy included in A Record of Chinese
Calligraphers, Painters and
Seal Carvers, edited by Deng Yunfeng (Henan Publishing
Company, 1996)
- 1995 Calligraphy selected for entry in the Sixth National
Exhibition
Calligraphers and Seal works Sponsored by the Chinese
Calligrapher's Association.
Exhibited in China Revolution and history museum in Beijing,
China.
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Simon Zeng's art-making process was filmed into a short video by SAP. This video was showed in the Opening Ceremony for BeiJing 2011 International Conference, which is called The SAP Sapphire. .


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- 1996 Won the Gold Cup Prize in the Chinese Peace Reunification Cup International Art Exhibition (sponsored by the World Art Institute)
- 1997 Calligraphy work was incorporated into a collection by Bill and Hillary Clinton in the White House
- 1997 One-Person Exhibit in the First Exhibition Hall, Flushing NY, an exhibition of paintings and calligraphy and seal art.
- 1998 Calligraphy work selected for entry in "The Collected Works of Authentic works of World-Famous Contenporary Painters and Calligraphers".
- 1998 Taught Oriental Art Courses in Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (New York City)
- 1998 Calligraphy works on the book cover named "One Continues Mistake" published by Penguin Press Company.
- 1999 "The Meridian Times" magazine introduce Simon Xianwen Zeng.
- 2000 Simon Xianwen Zeng's seal Art works in "The Meridian Times" Magazine.
- 2001 Bamboo painting and calligraphy works was published in placemat by Global House Wares, Inc.
- 2001 Four piece of paintings was published in greeting card by Woodmansterne Publishing Company in London, UK.
- From 2002 to 2006 Simon Xianwen Zeng had studied western art at The Art Students League of New York.
- 2002 Calligraphy demonstration at New York University.
- 2002 Art demonstration in the Museum of the Chinese in The Americas
- 2003 A set of 15 seal works and article was published in "The Art of Chinese Chops" by the Ivy Press in London, England.
- 2003 Art of Chinese Chops shown in the Metropolitan Museum.
- 2004 His book, "The Art of Chinese Chops" was published in German.
- 2006 Pink Flower painting published as posters by the Art Group in London, UK.
- 2007 Two pieces of paintings,Ladybird Luck and Spring Blossom was published as a greeting card by Woodmansterne Publications LTD in London.
- 2009 Won First Place Prize in 54th Anniversary Fine Arts Fiesta in Wilkes-Barre,PA.
- 2009 10th time solo Art show in Pacific college of Oriental Medicine.
- 2011 Two pieces of watercolor paintings selected for "Best of Artist" magazine by Kennedy Publishing in Virginia.
- 2011 Simon's process of creating calligraphy art and his image has been filmed by SAP Germany;part of this process of film has been used as the introduction movie for the Beijing 2011 International Science Conference.
- 2012 won First place in "The Greater Westhampton chamber of Commerce 40th Annual Art show" NY
- 2013 won First place in "The Greater Westhampton chamber of Commerce 41st Annual Art show" NY
- 2013, interviewed by The TimesLedger and published in an article. http://timesledger.com/stories/2013/24/simonzeng_ 2013_06_14_q.html
- Feb, 6, 2014, Simon Zeng's seal artwork was published on Timesledger newspaper.
- March 2015, Simon Zeng's oil painting "New Moon" has been used as the cover of Mr. Robert Bly's new book: "Like the New Moon, I Will Live My Life".
- March 14th, 2015, World Journal News, NY published the news about Simon Xianwen Zeng, whose painting has been used as the book cover of famous poet Robert Bly's new book <Like the New Moon, I Will Live My Life>
- July, 2015, "The Egret in Fall" has been chosen for the postcard of The 23rd Annual Haddonfield Crafts & Fine Art Festival.
- July, 2015, Simon Xianwen Zeng was selected in the new book "100 New York Calligraphers" published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd. (the book on Amazon)
- Aug, 2015, won first place at the 43rd Annual Art Show of Greater Westhampton Chamber of Commerce.
- Sept. 2015, Simon Xianwen zeng's oil painting " Symphony of Dawn" has been published by White Pine Press (New York) as the cover of "Wild Apple" by HeeDuk Ra. (the book on Amazon)
- Oct. 2015, Simon Xianwen Zeng demonstrated Chinese calligraphy and made a seal at the National Arts Club in Manhattan for the "100 New York Calligraphers" autograph event.
- Feb. 2016. Simon Xianwen Zeng had an interview with Times Ledger: "Flushing calligrapher puts all of his heart into his works" .
- Feb. 2016. Simon Xianwen Zeng featured in Bayside Times Ledger.
- 2017 - Simon Zeng was offered to attend graduate Program in East Asian Studies at St. John's University.
- 2018 - White Pines Press published Simon Zeng's Chinese Seals book titled
"Leave The Mark In The Snow" This book is currently available on Amazon.
- December 2018 - Simon Zeng
received special recognition award from the NY State Assemblyman Ron Kim and former Assemblywoman Ellen Young for service as a Citizen Volunteer in his home community Flushing, NY.
- March 2019 - "Leave The Mark In The Snow" was accepted by Princeton University Art Museum.
- May 2019 - Simon Zeng won
first place in the 64 Anniversary Fine Arts Fiesta ,PA.
- May 17h 2019 - article features Simon Zeng was published in newspaper The Citizen's Voice.
- 2019 - Simon Zeng's oil painting "A Snowing Day" is used as the cover of book Looking for Dragon Smoke by Robert Bly. This is the second time Simon Zeng's painting is used as the cover of a Robert Bly book.
- March 2019 - "Leave The Mark In The Snow" was accepted by Princeton University Art Museum.
- May 2019 - Simon Zeng won
first place in the 64 Anniversary Fine Arts Fiesta ,PA.
- May 17h 2019 - article features Simon Zeng was published in newspaper The Citizen's Voice.
- 2019 - Simon Zeng's oil painting "A Snowing Day" is used as the cover of book Looking for Dragon Smoke by Robert Bly. This is the second time Simon Zeng's painting is used as the cover of a Robert Bly book.
- 2020, January, an article "Flushing artist pens featuring Chinese Seals" about Simon's seal book in
Time Ledger newspaper
- 2020, May, Simon Zeng's paintings were selected in the contemporary art magazine
"Spotlight, issue 19"(page106-107)published in France
- 2021, May, Won Honorable Mention Award in 65th Fine Arts Fiesta
- 2021, Dec, Received America Poet Mr.Dennis Maloney's new multi-lingual chapbook with
Simon Zeng's calligraphy(Excerpts from Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching)
- A set of 15 seal works and article was published in 2022, Jan, Simon Zeng's painting was selected in "Spotlight, issue 26" "a contemporary Art magazine (page 199)" published in France
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2022, Jan, the article in Qcourier, Bayside Times, and Time Ledger newspaper about Simon Zeng
"Flushing artist honors the Year of the Tiger with dynamic work",
- 2022, Feb, Simon Zeng interviewed with Fox5 News in his studio in NYC.
- 2022, May, Simon Zeng achieved an honorable mention award at the 66th annual Fine Arts Fiesta with Mayor George Brown of Wilkes-Barre PA.
- 2023, February, Simon Zeng's calligraphy book "Buddha's Maxims" was published in New York by White Pine Press.
- 2023, March, Simon Zeng attended the Arts Expo of New York 2023 in the Lower East of Manhattan, Pier 36
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HONORS AND
AWARDS |
- 1993
Artist of International Renown awarded by a panel of National
Associations
of Asian Countries, including Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan.
- 1993 Recognized as a Treasure of Chinese Literature and
Art for his talent,
conferred by the Chinese Art Research Academy.
- 1994 Excellent work Award, given at the Beijing 2000
Olympics: First
International Exhibition of Painting and Calligraphy. Sponsored by
the
Chinese Government, Chinese Calligraphy Association and Chinese
Artist's
Association. Exhibited in Yan Huang Museum in Beijing,
China.
- 1995 Cash prize awarded by the Rong Bao Zai Art Gallery in
Beijing, China.
- 2001 Second prize awarded at the Washington Square outdoor
Arts Exhibition in
New York City, New York.
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- 2002 First place awarded in the Park
Avenue Summer Arts Festival in Rochester, New York
- 2002 Honorable award in Long Beach Fine Arts Show
of New York.
- 2009 Won First Place Prize in 54th Anniversary Fine Arts Fiesta in Wilkes-Barre,PA.
- 2012 won First place in "The Greater Westhampton chamber of Commerce 40th Annual Art show" NY.
- 2013, won First Place in The Greater Westhampton Chamber of Commerce 41st Annual Art Show
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PROFESSIONAL
AFFILIATIONS |
- Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Arts
- Member of the Artist Committee of the Chinese
Academy of Calligraphy
- Member of the Liaoning Chapter of the Chinese
Calligraphers Association
- Assistant Chief Editor of "A Record of Chinese
Calligraphers, Painters and Seal Carvers
Xianwen Zheng's art works have also been collected by
the Research Institute of Chinese Calligraphy Art
and Sichuan Dazu Art Museum of Stone Inscription in
China. His name has been included on record as
a treasure of Chinese Literature and Art talent.
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