Angel Di Zhang is a painter and fine art photographer. She was born in Manchuria, China in 1976 and grew up in China, England, Canada and the United States. She was something of an art prodigy, studying under the grandson of one of Canada's famed Group of Seven painters, and had her first exhibition at the age of seventeen.

Angel’s art studies continued at Columbia University in New York City where she was chosen in 1995 as only one of two candidates that year for the accelerated BA/MIA program that concludes in the awarding of a joint Bachelor of Art as well as a Masters of International Affairs. This enabled the artist to simultaneously continue studying art and pursue her commitment to third world economic development and environmental work with the UN and other NGOs. A short career with the NYSE followed and she was often reminded that the artist Gauguin had previous life as a stock broker. She was heartened by this and resigned at the NYSE to paint full time. She lived two years in the Caribbean painting and learning about the colors and rhythms of native American art.

Angel Di Zhang is based out of Toronto and travels extensively, selecting and visiting new countries and experiencing them by immersing into the culture and re-emerging with new artwork. Her diverse travels have contributed to a worldview and an art that is inflected with the aesthetic of different cultures. Her works are held in corporate and private collections in six countries. She has exhibited in Canada, the USA, Puerto Rico, China, and Japan. Her most recent exhibitions were at the critically acclaimed Athens Institute of Contemporary Art in the USA and the Yamaguchi Biennial in Japan.

Angel Di Zhang is also a published writer. She is passionate about contributing to the artistic community and to the world at large through membership and contributions to the prestigious Arts & Letters Club of Toronto as well as other arts organizations and humanitarian NGOs

Artist's Statement: Do Models Have Souls?

Do Models Have Souls? questions the nature of truth, and our perception of beauty. We live in an age of technological wonders where often the facsimile of something can be more compelling than the original. The media project to us idealized images of what we are told we should be. Slim, perky, flawless, shimmering, perfect.

But what is perfection?

This series comprise photographs of anatomically detailed mannequins, beginning dressed and perfectly coiffed, then naked next to each other, and finally interacting only as body parts. These were photographed over a twelve-year span covering New York and Toronto fashion weeks, store window displays on three continents, and in-studio fabrications.

The photographs have been digitally painted to remove seams and metal joints from the models. Digital micro-pointalism painting is achieved using traditional processes of “dodging” and “burning” as well as modern techniques such as “slice”, “clone” and “heal”. The painting methods as well as the finished images are integral in the process of exploration.

In some photographs it is obvious that the image is of a manufactured persona, in others the truth is not so obvious, until the viewer is left with a lingering suspicion. Is beauty only skin deep? Does that change when the skin is fiberglass and painted acrylic? In short, Do Models Have Souls?