Johnson Chang

A gallerist, curator, historian, educator and collector, Johnson Chang has had an absolutely central role in putting Chinese contemporary art on the map. He is perhaps best known as the founder, owner and director of the groundbreaking Hanart TZ Gallery, which became the first in the city to deal in contemporary Chinese art when it opened in 1983. He started putting on exhibitions in the late 1970s, and went on to organise iconic shows including The Stars: 10 Years (1989) and China’s New Art, Post 1989 (1993-97), in the process helping to launch the careers of artists including Zhang Xiaogang, Zeng Fanzhi, Wang Guangyi and Fang Lijun. He is the co-founder of the Asia Art Archive alongside Claire Hsu-Vuchot, and a guest professor at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou.

The photograph of Johnson Chang was taken by South China Morning Post (SCMP).