Chinese Astrology Transforms into Portrait Art: John Clang’s “Ziwei Doushu” Readings

Portrait art has always been a somewhat deceptive medium. A good portrait gives the viewer a sense of glimpsing the subject’s essence, but to truly know a person, one must see them from birth to death, through all significant life stages and in relation to their most important connections. Artist John Clang is renowned for precisely this expansive approach to portraiture.

Clang’s Being Together series, started in 2010, captured families separated by distance using Skype, erasing spatial barriers. One half of the family was projected onto a wall, posing as if physically present with the other half. Through this project, Clang created a “third space” beyond physical constraints, reuniting scattered families.

Now, Clang brings the Chinese astrology system of ziwei doushu, which he has studied for over a decade, into his artistic practice. His performance series Reading by an Artist, begun in 2023, uses a chart mapping twelve life domains to interpret a person’s destiny. Clang showcased these readings this year at the National Gallery Singapore, Sharjah Biennial, and a group exhibition at Galerie Lelong in New York.

Similar to Western astrology, Clang uses a person’s birth date to create a chart. However, his approach transforms the chart into a tool for crafting a portrait without a camera, pen, or brush. Focusing on specific areas of the chart, he shares personal observations and engages in dialogue to gauge the reading’s impact. Critics might argue that such insights could be found on Google, but that’s not the point of Clang’s work.

The artist describes this practice as a “more conceptual and introspective” form of portraiture. His goal is to help individuals understand their destiny to take control of it. For Clang, there is no distinction between past, present, and future—they exist on a single continuum. Just as his Skype family portraits created a sense of unity beyond time and space, his ziwei doushu readings approach a person’s life as a cohesive whole across all temporal dimensions.

These readings spark curiosity about one’s future while empowering individuals to reshape their lives and create an inner portrait. Clang’s art practice offers a profound exploration of the connections people forge with the external world and the potential within their inner selves.