Publications

Yongbo Zhao: Arbeiten 1994-1998. [Text: Barbara Rollmann-Borretty. Augsburg: Hofmann Druck, 1998. 47 pages [Text German/English]

The catalogue shows the first pictures created by Yongbo Zhao in Germany. "The sacred cows of society, the white bride, the pregnant woman, the family as a programmed producer of descendants and, of course, their superordinate idols are the target of his drastic depictions. They are horror visions that can only be compared to apocalyptic works of art." (Barbara Rollmann-Borretty)   



Oliver Brokel, Sabine Ohlenbusch, Anke Schlecht: Vision Werkstatt. Dietmar Gross & Yongbo Zhao. München : Kunst- und Textwerk-Verlag, 2004. 50 pages (Magazin ku: ; 2005, Sonderheft 1) [Text German]

Special issue of the art magazine[ku:] about working groups and collaborative works in art history. As an unusual, fascinating example of artistic collaboration in our time, the project "Joint Pictures" by Yongbo Zhao and Dietmar Gross is examined in more detail.



Yongbo Zhao: Bilder zum Leben. Mit einem Text von Scarlatto Negrentino und einem Beitrag von Udo Kultermann. Konzipiert, gestaltet und herausgegeben von Matthias Klein. München : Scaneg, 2004. 96 pages (Studio Scaneg ; 1)

[Text German, legends German/English]

The pictures of Yongbo Zhao, who came to Germany from Manchuria in China, are acknowledged in this book with 49 colour pages. For the viewer, they are unusual in their thematic impartiality, masterful directness and pictorial violence. A contribution by the renowned art historian and emeritus university professor Udo Kultermann illuminates these paintings. The literary text by Scarlatto Negrentino tells of a painter from the Chinese province. As a child he experiences the revolution with his family, later he discovers drawing, then color, and he successfully completes his studies of painting at a Chinese university. The report also shows the social and spiritual conflict when the artist travels to Central Europe for further study of painting. In poetic pictures he tells us about his fears and his transformation. (Publishing text)



Yongbo Zhao: Das große Lachen = Hearty laughter. Herausgegeben von Gottfried Knapp. Beiträge Martin Tschechne und Elmar Zorn. München : Prestel, 2008. 159 pages [Text German/English]

This monograph impressively confirms the rank of the painter Yongbo Zhao. He is one of the most fascinating contemporary artists who came into the world from China. His fantastic-visionary, playful-satirical paintings and etchings, both in terms of technique, style and subject matter, are currently without precedent. (jacket text)



Provokation! Goya, Daumier, Yongbo Zhao - Kritiker und Spötter ihrer Zeit ; [vom 20. November 2009 - 28. Februar 2010]. [Ausstellungstexte: Christoph Wiedemann, Susanne Flesche, Susanne Kaufmann]. Kaufbeuren : Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren, 2009. 72 pages [Text German]

Catalogue on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name at the Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren. In 2013 it was published in an expanded version by Hirmer-Verlag.



Francisco de Goya : Visionen von Schrecken und Hoffnung. Francisco de Goya und Maja Bajević, Jacques Callot, Conrad Felixmüller, George Grosz, Willibald Krain, Sigalit Landau, Otto Pankok, Daniel Pešta, Wilhelm Schnarrenberger, Horst Strempel, Eugenio Lucas Y Velázquez, Tina Winkhaus, Yongbo Zhao. Katalogkonzept, Kurator: Jürgen Kaumkötter. Merzig : Gollenstein, 2010. 160 pages [Text German]

Catalogue on the occasion of the exhibition "Francisco de Goya. Visions of terror and hope", 20 June - 12 September 2010 in the context of Ruhr. 2010 Essen European Capital of Culture. The graphic series "The Horrors of War" and "Los Caprichos" as well as paintings by Francisco de Goya are juxtaposed with predecessors and contemporary artists. With a contribution by Gottfried Knapp about Yongbo Zhao.



Yongbo Zhao. Mit einem Beitrag von Tilman Spengler. 1. Auflage. München : Klinckhardt & Biermann, 2012. 63 pages (Junge Kunst ; 05) [Text German]

1st edition of the monograph on Yongbo Zhao in the famous series "Junge Kunst" (Young Art), which documents the lifves and creative processes of the most important artists of the European avant-garde, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee and Johannes Grützke. The author of this volume was Tilman Spengler, a well-known China connoisseur and writer.



Provokation! Goya, Daumier, Yongbo Zhao - Kritiker und Spötter ihrer Zeit. [Anlässlich der Ausstellung Provokation! Goya, Daumier, Yongbo Zhao - Kritiker und Spötter Ihrer Zeit, Städtische Galerie Fähre, Bad Saulgau, 12. Oktober 2013 - 12. Januar 2014, Kallmann-Museum Ismaning, 14. Februar - 20. April 2014]. Herausgegeben von Susanne Flesche. Mit Beiträgen von Christoph Wiedemann und Anna Pataczek. München : Hirmer, 2013. 103 pages

[Text German, legends Spanish/German, French/German, Chinese/German] 

The most elegant form of artistic attacks on social grievances is the caricature, which in its extreme position becomes satire or grotesque. Masters of this genre are Goya and Daumier, who portrayed their time with pointed feathers and at the same time set the standards that are still valid today. The modern antithesis to this is formed by the 1964 born Chinese Yongbo Zhao with his paintings. Ruthlessly, arbitrariness of rulers, abuse of power, social grievances and other' non' -topics are brought to the fore. Dramatically and grandiosely, the works of these three satire masters provoke and challenge the viewer. (Publishing text)



Gottfried Knapp: Grand Tour. Texte aus drei Jahrzehnten. Mit Zeichnungen von Yongbo Zhao. München: Hirmer, 2013. 255 pages [Text German]

Whether it's innovative architecture or good food, bad films or daring construction projects, satisfying exhibitions or indispensable improvements in existence: Gottfried Knapp has been writing criticism for the Süddeutsche Zeitung for almost 40 years, with a passion for language and passion. With 17 drawings by Yongbo Zhao



Yongbo Zhao. Mit einem Beitrag von Tilman Spengler. 2. erweiterte Auflage. München : Klinckhardt & Biermann, 2014. 71 pages (Junge Kunst ; 05)

[Text German]

Updated, expanded 2nd edition of the volume on Yongbo Zhao, published for the first time in 2012, on the occasion of the exhibition opening on 14 February 2014 at the Kallmann Museum in Ismaning near Munich. The famous series "Junge Kunst" (Young Art) documents the lives and creative processes of the most important European avant-garde artists, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee and Johannes Grützke. 



!Königsplatz! Ein Text-, Bild- und Klangoratorium an sieben Orten und in fünf Stationen. Konzipiert, gestaltet und geschrieben von Scarlatto Negrentino. Herausgeber: Matthias Klein. München : Scaneg, 2017. 104 Seiten (Studio Scaneg ; 2) [Text German]

Originally, this text, image and sound oratorio for the poetisation of one of Munich's most famous and historically rich places was not intended as a book, but as a play. An exclusive mixture of artist's book, cult action, cicerone and word installation is presented, which becomes an extraordinary poetry. Station 1 of the planned seven stations is a poetic text about the painter Yongbo Zhao and his works (first published in "Yongbo Zhao: Bilder zum Leben", Munich 2004). 



Yongbo Zhao: Die Welt als Narrenschiff. [Text: Martin Tschechne]. Essen : Galerie KK Klaus Kiefer, 2018. 64 pages [Text German]

The volume brings together works by Yongbo Zhao from 2006 to 2017, creating pictorial worlds that are unmistakably in the tradition of such great masters as Bosch and Goya, at the highest technical and stylistic level. In visionary scenarios populated by fantastic animal and human beings, he draws attention to the social, social and political grievances - sometimes ironically mocking, sometimes grossly drastic - that are the same in all times and in all systems of the world: It is always about abuse of power, religion, stupidity and corruption. The world at the edge. With an introductory text about Yongbo Zhao's imagery by Martin Tschechne, long-time head of the art magazine "Art" and editor-in-chief of "Weltkunst". 



Der Künstler als Augenöffner und Seher? Yongbo Zhaos Grenzgang zwischen europäischen und chinesischen Bildkulturen. Herausgegeben von Semjon Aron Dreiling, unter Mitarbeit von Jennifer Jäger. Mit einem Geleitwort von Shan Fan. Weimar : VDG, 2018. 240 pages [Text German]

Current and virulent are the topics of migration and transculturality, but also the discourses on global art history and multiple modernities. In this larger context, the study carried out with students of Saarland University on the motivically dense and richly related paintings and etchings by the Manchurian artist Yongbo Zhao is located. The anthology makes an important contribution to the understanding of this contemporary Chinese artist, whose work has so far only been explored to a limited extent and without a systematic examination of the complexes of motifs in his oeuvre. (Publishing text)



Yongbo Zhao: Die Welt als Narrenschiff /The world as a ship of fools. [Texts: Martin Tschechne. Translations: Ariane Kossack]. Extended new edition. German-English. Essen : Galerie KK Klaus Kiefer, 2023. 100 pages

The volume brings together works by Yongbo Zhao from  1994 to 2023, creating pictorial worlds that are unmistakably in the tradition of such great masters as Bosch and Goya, at the highest technical and stylistic level. In visionary scenarios populated by fantastic animal and human beings, he draws attention to the social, social and political grievances - sometimes ironically mocking, sometimes grossly drastic - that are the same in all times and in all systems of the world: It is always about abuse of power, religion, stupidity and corruption. The world at the edge. With an introductory text about Yongbo Zhao's imagery by Martin Tschechne, long-time head of the art magazine "Art" and editor-in-chief of "Weltkunst". 



Up to now five titles have been published in China.