Erica van Zon creates thoughtful homages and translations of observed moments across shared visual cultures, employing a wide range of media, centring on craft practice in her idiosyncratic and brightly coloured works.

Van Zon was awarded the 2011 Wellington Asia Residency Exchange artist residency to Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, a partnership between Wellington City Council and Asia New Zealand. During the residency, van Zon visited a local temple, where she noticed the fringed edge of a silk cover draped over a Buddha statue. Fringe 2 is based on this encounter. Van Zon sourced Chinese embroidery cotton to create her own version of the fringe at a larger scale, delicately referencing Chinese culture in this playful and painterly artwork.

Erica van Zon (born 1979) graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2007. Van Zon’s work has been shown in international and national group exhibitions and at City Gallery Wellington, The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and The Dowse Art Museum. In 2007 she won the inaugural Iris Fisher scholarship at Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Waitakere. She was Curator of Enjoy Public Art Gallery from 2010-11, and artist-in-residence at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 2014 and at Tylee Cottage, Whanganui, in 2016. Van Zon lives and works in Wellington.