“Artists on Our Radar” is a monthly series focused on five artists who have our attention. Utilizing our art expertise and Artsy data, we’ve determined which artists made an impact this past month through new gallery representation, exhibitions, auctions, art fairs, or fresh works on Artsy.
New York–based artist Tony Zhao paints vignettes of daily life, cropped to focus on minute details—empty seats on a train, a bracelet around a wrist, a light fixture. These seemingly mundane scenes take on a filmic quality in his oil on canvas compositions, thanks to his considered framing and his constrained, brooding color palette. Currently, his work is on view in the two-artist exhibition “Contact Points” at New York’s C24 Gallery through September 4th.
Born and raised in Beijing, Zhao received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2024. Before that, he worked as an independent curator and educator at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, where a group exhibition of his own work was held in 2020. He also had a solo exhibition, “Lake House,” at A/W Space in London in 2024, and has been included in group shows at Union Street Gallery in Chicago and Gelman Gallery in Providence.
