Cao Fei is no doubt one of the most remarkable and powerful artists of this generation. Born in 1978 in Guangzhou, Cao Fei has grown up in the world of electronic entertainments and advertisements. Fascinated by the vibrant landscapes of the consumer society, She started with her artistic career at an extremely young age. Cao Fei has developed a highly personal language of image making demonstrating the fantasy, desire, critique and jouissance vis-à-vis the mutating reality.

Cao Fei’s work was recently shown at China Power Station: Part 1, an off-site Serpentine Gallery exhibition of contemporary Chinese video, sound and installation art co-produced by The Red Mansion Foundation at Battersea Power Station.

1978 Born in Guangzhou
1997 Graduated from the Affiliated Middle School of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
2001 Graduated from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art
Now lives and works in Guangzhou
Solo Exhibition:
2005 “Cosplayers”, Lombard-Freid Fine Arts, New York
”Cosplayers”, CourtYard Gallery, Beijing
2004 “San Yuan Li”, CourtYard Gallery, Beijing
Group Exhibition:
2005 The 2nd Guangzhou Triennia: “BEYOND”, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou
”Out of Sight”, De Appel Foundation of Amsterdam, Amsterdam
”Parallel Realities”: Asian Art Now, 3th Fukuoka Triennale, Fukuoka, Japan
”Follow Me!” Contemporary Chinese Art at the Threshold of the Millennium, Mori Museum, Tokyo
”I still believe in miracles”, Part.II, Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris / ARC, Paris
”CIRCULAR-domus”, San Siro stadium, Milan
”Emergency Biennale in Chechnya”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
”The 1st Moscow Biennial: Dialectics of Hope”, Mosow, Russia
”Yoko Ono: Water Event 2005”, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway
”London Chinese Film Festival 2005 SOAS”, University of London, London
“Beijing Case: Culture of the High Speed Urbanism”, German Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes), German
2004 “Do It”, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami
”Nuit Blanche”, Art Public Contemporain, Paris
”Impakt Festival”, Utrecht, Netherlands
”Past in Reverse: Contemporary Art of East Asia”, San Diego Museum of Art
”Die Chinesen: Contemporary Photography and Video in China”, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
”5th Shanghai Biennial”, Shanghai Museum of Art, Shanghai
”China Moon”, Watermill Center 2004 Summer Program, New York
”A l’Est du Sud de l’Ouest”, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Villa Arson Nice, France
”Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video From China”, ICP and Asia Society, New York
”Taetig Sein”, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kuenst e.V. (NGBK), Berlin
”China Now”, Gramercy Theatre, Museum of Modern Art, New York
”Heads & Portraits”, Produzentengalerie, Hamburg
”Feverish Unconscious”, Chambers Fine Art, New York
”Generation Video”, Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris
”Out the Window: Spaces of Distraction”, Japan Foundation, Tokyo; Darling Art Foundation, Seoul
2003 Left Wing, Left Bank Community, Beijing
”Screening Programme”, MK2 (Bibliothèque), Paris
”Fabricated Paradises”, Le Parvis centre d’art contemporain, Ibos, France
”10th Biennial of the Moving Image”, Geneva
”Zooming into Focus”: Chinese Contemporary Photography from the Haudenschild Collection, San Diego State University & San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego
”Public Space and Personal Eyes”, Kampnagel, Hamburg
”Alors la Chine”, Centre Pompidou, Paris
”Z.O.U.”, 50th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
”+system”, Short Videos from the World 2002-2003, BizArt, Shanghai
”The Minority Is Subordinate to the Majority”, BizArt, Shanghai
2002 “In/Video”, Milan
”Kino Film Festival”, Manchester, UK
Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou
”Media City” Seoul 2002, Korea
Gwangju Biennale, Korea
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, France
”Making China”, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York
2001 “Weightlessness”, Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin
”The New Media Art Festival: Non-linear Narrative”, National Academy of Art, Hangzhou
”Living in Time”, Hamburger Bahnhof Contemporary Art Museum, Berlin
”City Slang”, Art Village, Hong Kong
Berlin Biennale, Berlin
”Take Part”, Galerie Urs Meile, Luzern, Switzerland
”Virtual Future”, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou
2000 “Fuck Off”, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai
”Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival: Leaving the Island”, Pusan, Korea
”PhotoEspana 2000”, Madrid
1999 “8th Biennial of Moving Images”, Saint-Gervais Geneva, Switzerland
”4th Cross-Strait”, Hong Kong and Macau Student Film & Video Festival, Hong Kong
“Video screening”, Galerie Büro Friedrich, Berlin

Born in 1962 in Shantou, Guangdong Province, Chen Shaoxiong graduated from the print department of the Guangzhou Fine Art Academy in 1984. He lives and works in Guangzhou. Chen Shaoxiong’s work has been featured in all the key contemporary Chinese art exhibitions, from the groundbreaking exhibition InsideOut at the PS1, New York in 1998 to Follow me! Chinese Art at the Treshold of the new Millenium at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo in 2005 to the last Guangzhou Triennial at the Guangdong Museum of Art in autumn 2005.

Chen’s work was recently shown at China Power Station: Part 1, an off-site Serpenite Gallery exhibition of contemporary Chinese video, sound and installation art co-produced by The Red Mansion Foundation at Battersea Power Station.

1962
Born in Shantou, Guangdong Province, China
1984
Graduated from the print department of Guangzhou Fine Art Academy
1990
Formed “Big Tail Elephant Group” with Lin Yilin, Liang Juhui. Lives and works in Guangzhou

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2005
“DOUBLE LANDSCAPE”, Grace Alexander Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
2003
“ANTI-C.S.X.”, Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, China

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2006
“CHINA POWER STATION: PART 1”, Battersea Power Station, London, UK
“CHINA COUP”, The Hospital, The Red Mansion Foundation, London, UK
2005
“CITY, OPEN DOOR!”, Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, Shenzhen, China
“THE 2nd GUANGZHOU TRIENNIAL: BEYOND – AN EXTRAORDINARY SPACE OF EXPERIMENTATION FOR MODERNIZATION”, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
“THE 3rd TIRANA BIENNALE: GO INSIDE”, National Art Gallery, Tirana, Albania
“FOLLOW ME! CHINESE ART AT THE THRESHOLD OF NEW MILLENNIUM”, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
“MONTPELLIER – CHINA: 1 (The 1St Montpellier Biennale of Chinese Contemporary Art)”, Montpellier, France
“ENERGENCY BIENNALE IN CHECHNYA: A SUITCASE FROM PARIS TO GROSNY”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
“CHINA! CHINA!! CHINA!!!”, Grace Alexander Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
“MIRROR WORLDS – CONTEMPORARY VIDEO FROM ASIA”, Australian Centre for Photography, New South Wales, Australia
“IN-BETWEEN REALITIES”, Shanghai Gallery of Art Three on the bund, Shanghai, China
2004
“MAKING DIFFERENCES”, Historiska Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
“ZOOMING INTO FOCUS”, University Art Gallery San Diego State University, USA/Shanghai Art Museum, China
“STOPOVER HONG KONG”, Hanart T Z Gallery, Hong Kong
“LIGHT AS FUCK! SHANGHAI ASSEMBLAGE 2000-2004”, The National Museum of Art, Norway, Oslo
“A L’OUEST DU SUD DE L’EST”, Center of Contemporary Art, Sète/Villa Arson in Nice, France
“BETWEEN PAST AND FUTURE: NEW PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEO FROM CHINA”, ICP International Center of Photography, New York, USA
2003
“THE FIFTH SYSTEM: PUBLIC ART IN THE AGE OF ‘POST-PLANNING'”, Hexiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
“FABRICATED PARADISES”, Le Parvis centre d’art contemporain, Ibos, France (cat.)
“10th BIENNIAL OF THE MOVING IMAGE”, Centre pour I’ image contemporaine, Geneva, Switzerland
“EVERYDAY – CONTEMPORARY ART FROM JAPAN, CHINS, THAILAND”, Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen, Denmark
“Z.O.U. (Zone of Urgency), 50th INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION OF THE VENICE BIENNALE”, Venice, Italy (cat.)
2002
“PAUSE: THE 4th GWANGJU BIENNALE 2002”, Gwangju, Korea
“GOLDEN HARVEST”, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia
“MOIST-MULTIMEDIA ART ASIA PACIFIC”, The Art Museum of China Millennium Monument, Beijing, China
“REINTERPRETATION: A DECADE OF EXPERIMENTAL CHINESE ART – THE 1st GUANGZHOU TRIENNALE”, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
“URBAN CREATION – SHANGHAI BIENNALE”, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
“UNDER CONSTRUCTION”, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Japan
“SYNTHETIC REALITY”, East Modern Art Centre, Beijing, China
2001
“NEW MEDIA ART OF CHINA”, Loft New-Media Art Space, Beijing, China
“CITY SLANG”, He Xiangning Museum, Shenzhen, China
“CHINESE PHOTOGRAPHY NOW”, Canvas International Art, Amsterdam, Netherlands
“LIVING IN TIME”, National Gallery Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
“THE NEW-MEDIA ART FESTIVAL: NON-LINEAR NARRATIVE”, National Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
2000
“OUR CHINESE FRIENDS”, Bauhaus-University and ACC Gallery, Weimar, Germany
“INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY IN ART”, Guangdong Museum of Art, China
“MULTIMEDIA ART ASIA PACIFIC 2000 FESTIVAL”, Brisbane Powerhouse, Australia
“FUCK OFF: UNCOOPERATIVE APPROACH”, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, China
“PUSAN INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART FESTIVAL (PICAF): LEAVING THE ISLAND”, Pusan Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pusan, Korea
“2nd FESTIVAL INTERNATINAL D’ARTS MULTIMEDIA”, Urbains Belfont, France
1999
“CITIES ON THE MOVE 4,5,6,7”, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; Hayward Gallery, London; Bangkok; The Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
“FAST FORWARD: NEW CHINESE VIDEO ART”, Contemporary Art Centre, Macau, China
“ART FOR SALE”, Shanghai, China
“9th INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY BIENNIAL”, Image Centre, Mexico
“8th BIENNIAL OF MOVING IMAGES”, Saint-Gervais, Geneva, Switzerland
1998
“BREACH”, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
“TRANSMEDIALE ’98, 11th VIDEO FESTIVAL”, Podewil, Berlin, Germany
“CITIES ON THE MOVE 2,3”, CAPC, Bordeaux; PS1, New York, USA
“16th WORLDWIDE VIDEO FESTIVAL”, Amsterdam, Netherlands
“INSIDE OUT”, PS1, New York; San Francisco MoMA, USA
“BIG TAIL ELEPHANT”, Kunsthalle, Bern, Germany
1997
“ANOTHER LONG MARCH: CHINESE CONCEPTUAL ART”, Breda, Netherlands
“DEMONSTRATION OF VIDEO ART ’97 CHINA”, The Gallery of Centre Fine Art Academy, Beijing, China
“CITIES ON THE MOVE”, Secession, Vienna, Austria
“NEW ASIA, NEW CITY, NEW ART”, Shanghai Contemporary Art Exhibition Hall, Shanghai, China
1996
“PHENONENON AND IMAGE VIDEO ART”, China Fine Art Academy, Hangzhou, China
1994
“NO ROOM”, No.14 SanYu Road, Guangzhou, China
1993
“3rd EXHIBITION OF BIG TAIL ELEPHANT GROUP”, Red Ants Bar, Guangzhou, China
1992
“BIG TAIL ELEPHANT GROUP – A JOINT EXHIBITION”, Guangdong Broadcast/Television University, Guangzhou, China
1991
“EXHIBITION OF BIG TAIL ELEPHANT GROUP”, Guangzhou No.1 Workers’ Palace, Guangzhou, China

Born in Shenyang, Cui Guotai was concentrated in the beginning of his career on his inner emotional world and the esthetics of the nature of his homeland, the northeast of China. After an abstract period and four years later he approached the topics of his present-day works. His focus turned to the huge and wastelands of the regions of heavy industry, also in the northeast of China. The murky and weird industrial ruins, such as factories, chimneys, blast furnaces, locomotives, railways, ferroconcrete constructions, stand tall and upright in Guotai’s paintings. Here he uses the realistic images to bear witness to the passing of the heavy industrial era in China.

1964
Born in Shen Yang, China
1998
Graduated from The Fine Art Department, North East Normal University
1999
Graduated from Oil Painting Study Course, Oil Painting Department, Central Academy of Fine Arts
2000
Matriculated by the No. 4 Oil Painting Studio, Fine Art Department, Art and Design School, Tsing-Hua University

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2005
“BODY TEMPERATURE: INVOKING THE LEGACY OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON THROUGH CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART”, The China Millennium Monument, China; Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, Denmark.
“THE SECOND BEIJING BIENNALE”, National Art Museum of China, China
“NATURE AND HUMAN – THE SECOND CONTEMPORARY CHINA LANDSCAPE”, National Art Museum of China, China
2004
“BEIJING NORTHERN ARTISTS PAINTING EXHIBITION”, Beijing Ai Yun Tang Gallery, Beijing, China
2003
“BEIJING SHANG YUAN ARTISTS ARTWORKS EXHIBITION”, Macau, China
2001
“CUI GUOTAI’S OIL PAINTING EXHIBITION”, National Art Museum of China, China
“ART AND SCIENCE – INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION”, National Art Museum of China, China
2000
“BEIJING OIL PAINTING INSTITUTE INVITATION EXHIBITION”, Beijing huan Yu Gallery, China

Fang Lijun is internationally recognized as one of the most influential contemporary Chinese artists. Born in Handan in 1963, he graduated from the Print Department at the Central Institute of Fine Arts Beijing in 1989. Fang Lijun now lives and works in Beijing. Already in 1998 Fang Lijun’s work was shown in a solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Further solo exhibitions have been hosted by the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Aachen and the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin.

1968
Born in Yunnan Province, China
1989
Graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Dept. of Art Education. Presently, living and working in Beijing

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2004
“SHADOW SHAPED”, Art Now Gallery, Beijing, China
2003
“GIRL, TOY, SMOKE”, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China
“HE SEN SOLO EXHIBITION”, Marella Art Contemporary,Milano, Italy
2002
“HE SEN SOLO EXHIBITION”, Piltzer Gallery, Paris, France
2001
“SCENE”, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, China
2000
“WOMEN’S PORTRAITS”, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China
1992
“FIST EXHIBITION”, Chongqing, China

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2005
“CHINA CONTEMPORARY”, Painting,Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, Bologna, Italy
“PRAGUE BIENNALE 2”, Karlin Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
“THE SECOND TRIENNIAL OF CHINESE ART”, The Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China
2004
“CHINA AVANT-GARDE”, Vanessa Art House, Jakarta, Indonesia
“11+1: CROWDS AND VOIDS”, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai, China
“CHINA’S PHOTOGRAPHIC PAINTING”, China Art Seasons Gallery, Beijing, China
“HUAJIADI”, China Art Seasons Gallery, Beijing, China
“NEW PERSPECTIVES IN CHINESE PAINTING”, Marella Art Contemporary, Milano, Italy
“THE 1st NOMINATIVE EXHIBITION OF FINE ARTS LITERATURE”, Hubei Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Wuhan, China
“BEIJING CHONGQING SHANGHAI – PAINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY”, Gallery Karin Sachs, Munich, Germany
2003
“OUT OF THE RED – CHINA ART NOW”, Marella Art Contemporary, Milano; Trevi Flash Art Museum, Perugia, Italy
“POST-REVOLUTION AND NEW GENERATION”, Chinablue Gallery, Beijing, China
“MODERNIZATION AND URBANIZATION”, Opening ‘Seoul-Asia Art Now’ Exhibition, Marronnier Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2002
“NEW YORK ASIA INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR”, New York, USA
“YOUTH-CRUELTY”, ddmwarehouse, Shanghai, China
“GOLDEN HARVEST – CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART”, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia
2001
“ON BOYS AND GIRLS”, UpRiver Loft, KunMing, Soobin Art Gallery, Singapore
“UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT”, Chengdu Contemporary Arts Museum, Chengdu, China
“1st CHENGDU BIENNALE”, Chengdu Contemporary Arts Museum, Chengdu, China
2000
“GATE OF THE CENTURY 1979-1999, CHINESE ART INVITTIONAL EXHIBITION”, Chengdu, China
“EXHIBITION OF THE COLLECTION OF SHANGHAI ART MUSEUM”, Shanghai, China
“INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY IN ART”, Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou; Shanghai Art Fair, China; Melbourne Art Fair, Australia
1999
“EXHIBITION OF DONGYU ART GALLERY”, Shenyang, China
“ACADEMIC EXHIBITION”, Upriver Gallery, Chengdu, China
“SHARP NEW SIGHT FROM YOUNG ARTISTS BORN AROUND 1970”, Beijing; Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai, China
1997
“1st ACADEMIC EXHIBITION OF CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART”, Beijing, Hong Kong
1995
“3rd ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF CHINESE OIL PAINTING”, Beijing, China
“URBAN IDEALIST – NEW ART FROM SICHUAN”, Hong Kong
“CHINESE CONTEMPORARY OIL PAINTINGS: FROM REALISM TO POST MODERNISM”, Theoremes Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
1994
“SLICED”, Chongqing, China
1993
“CHINA’S NEW ART: POST 1989”, Hanart Gallery, Hong Kong
“1st BIENNIAL EXHIBITION OF CHINESE OIL PAINTING”, Beijing, China
“2nd EXHIBITION OF CHINESE OIL PAINTING”, Beijing, China
1992
“1st ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF CHINESE OIL PAINTING”, Hong Kong
“1st BIENNIAL ART EXHIBITION”, Guangzhou, China
“2nd DOCUMENTRY EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART”, Guangzhou, China
1989
“SICHUAN PROVINCIAL FINE ART EXHIBITION”, Provincial Gallery, Chengdu, China

He Sen is an artist entirely committed to the medium of painting, which he uses to explore the human condition in his powerful and atmospheric works. He Sen is particularly concerned with the dilemmas facing China’s youth as they grow up in a society that is changing so fast.

He Sen graduated from the painting department of the Sichuan academy of Fine Arts in 1989. The early 1990s saw him paint still lives, which, despite lacking a direct human presence, were filled with traces of the China’s new “modern” youth: cassettes, cigarette packets, trainers. He Sen then began featuring people as his subject matter, culminating in a series of paintings depicting snapshots of brightly coloured and slightly surreal TV studios. Since these earlier works He Sen has abandoned the knife and started using the brush to depict his subjects, the details of his paintings are thus much finer and the surfaces smoother, giving the works a different feel.

Li Ji was born in Kunming, Yunnan Province in 1963. He graduated from the Sichuan Art Academy in 1987 and completed his graduate studies at the Printing Department of the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing in 1990. An accomplished print-maker, Li Ji is better known for his works in oil on canvas where his vision, mastery and comments on modern society are manifest. Li Ji’s works have been exhibited internationally and acquired by private and public collections in the United States, Europe and Asia. He is currently vice professor of the Yunnan Art academy.

Viewing Liu Ding’s works is like visiting a pure, futuristic “lab” that is full of texture. When you enter Liu Ding’s world, you will discover that all common and familiar materials end up appearing unusual. Liu Ding’s sensitivity towards and obsession with texture enables him to toy with raw materials and end products. By transforming the physical existence and texture of an object, he plays games with our usual experiences like a magician.

Liu Ding’s work was recently shown at China Power Station: Part 1, an off-site Serpenite Gallery exhibition of contemporary Chinese video, sound and installation art co-produced by The Red Mansion Foundation at Battersea Power Station.

Liu Wei lives and works in his native Beijing, where he was born in 1972. In 1996 he graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou. Featured in several international group shows, including ‘Beijing in London’ at the ICA in London and the 1st Guangzhou Triennial he was also selected to represent China in last year’s first Chinese Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennial.

Starting from 2002, Miao Xiaochun began to create large, colorful photographs with the help of digital technology. While these works evoke earlier themes and images: the deepening commercialization of Chinese society, the solitude of the ancient gentleman, and the contrast between traditional and contemporary culture, their increasingly complex compositions reflect the artists heightened attraction to stylistic and technical innovations. Digital technology allows him to realize in photography this artistic vision derived from traditional painting, as he can weave numerous images into a single composition, creating subtle tensions and transitions unattainable with a conventional camera.

In his most recent work “The Last Judgement” Miao Xiaochun has generated a 3-D model of his body and substituted his image for each of the 400 figures in Michelangelo’s painting. Using software to manipulate the model into different positions, he then integrated these 3-D figures into a virtual space based on Michelangelo’s composition. He could then travel within the painting like a tourist, taking photos as he went along, from within the pictorial frame as well as from without. The artist worked with three assistants for six months to create these works.