Artworks & exhibitions by Chinese artists

41 articles

Huang Qingjun’s intimate portraits of Chinese families – Family Stuff

Usually, life is viewed from the perspective of people as they appear in public. It is not unusual to come across a rich-looking individual only to realize that their background or where they call home is not as lavish. When what we consider normal is transformed inside out, a whole new dynamism of sights emerges. […]

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Zhang Huan – One of the most disgusting performance pieces ever made

Zhang Huan is no stranger to controversy. Having attended school when China was undergoing a dramatic time in its history, Zhang learned a lot from the years of protests and demonstrations that would be staged in front of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. As an avid fan of Avant-garde art, Zhang did not really have adequate

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Qiu Zhijie – Luckily these are not real tattoos

Qiu Zhijie is well known for his capacity to add provoking new meanings to traditional Chinese calligraphy. In many of his works, Qiu incorporates calligraphy into modern media to fuse important elements from his culture into his art. His Tattoo series, released in 1994, explores the state of one’s independence and invisibility. Qiu’s ‘Tattoo’ series

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Fan Ho’s street photography: How Hong Kong looked like 60 years ago

Born in Shanghai in 1931 but moved to Hong Kong early in his life, Fan Ho was a renowned actor, film director, and photographer who has won numerous awards (280 awards, empirically speaking) for his work since 1956. In his teens, he began to photograph the drama of city life, ranging from the teeming markets

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Zhang Xiaogang: China’s most important painter & his Bloodlines series

Zhang Xiaogang is a Chinese surrealist and symbolist painter. He is most famous for his Bloodline series, a body of work characterized by predominantly monochromatic portraits of Chinese people. His wide-eyed subjects featured in his stylized portraits of Chinese people are posed stiff and upright, deliberately reminiscent of family portraits from the 1950s and 1960s. Early childhood

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He Xiangyu’s life-sized tank – Entirely made of Italian leather

He Xiangyu’s Tank project commenced in late 2011 and was completed in early 2013. The sculpture is a prototype of the tank, specifically a T34, based on one that was found near a regimen positioned between North Korea and China. The T34 model was used as China’s armed forces principal tank, and furthermore was the

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Yin Xiuzhen & her 14 meter minibus Collective Unconscious

Collective Subconscious is a large-scale interactive installation created by Beijing-based artist Yin Xiuzhen. She has spent the last twenty-five years creating and displaying works that reflect her surrounding environment and her relationship with it. Her works are usually personal and environmentally engaging and typically site-specific. Collective Subconscious, which is composed of a bisected minivan connected

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Artist Xu Zhen’s stunning installation at the Long Museum

Xu Zhen is a leader within the domain of contemporary Chinese art and is said to be one of the most sought-after international contemporary artists. Xu Zhen uses inspiration from both Chinese and Western cultures while combining the embodiment of both. He uses sociocultural frameworks as an inspiration for his pieces to target and, what

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Cai Guo-Qiang’s massive 8min explosive performance made citizens call the police

Cai Guo-Qiang is a New York-based artist and one of the furthermost celebrated contemporary artists originating from China. He is known for a remarkable new kind of fireworks spectacle, which he calls “explosion events.” He has taken gunpowder, one of China’s Four Great Inventions and led the way in a new impressive form of art

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Cao Fei’s Cosplayers & the power of costumes

Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei’s 2004 work explores the imagined identities of cosplayers, young people who dress up like game characters, and how they interact with the real world. A costume bestows magical powers upon the wearer of these individuals, rendering their person more special and enabling them to transcend their mundane reality. These are

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Zhang Huan’s Family Tree – His whole face painted black

As an alumnus of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Zhang Huan is one of China’s most influential artists. His work revolves around exploring both national and personal identity through performances. Initially, his work was entirely expressed in the form of performance. Later, he incorporated photography to counter the ephemeral nature of performance

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Why did Michael Lin install a complete house on a roof in Shanghai?

Model Home – A Proposition by Michael Lin was an exhibition of new conceptual work, made by Michael Lin. For the exhibition, he installed a temporary structure on top of the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, China. The exhibition has been created in collaboration with building workers, furniture makers and musicians, filmmakers, and urban studies

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