Chen Shaoxiong (born 1962 - 26 November 2016) was an artist living and working in

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Chen Shaoxing worked across mediums including paint, photography, and collage, though he has become increasingly focused on the combination of ink, video, and installation.

Early life

Chen Shaoxiong was born in 1962 in Shantou, a city in the eastern part of Guangdong province. Chen Shaoxiong graduated from Guangzhou Fine Art Academy in 1984, trained in Chinese ink. In 1990, he was a founder of conceptual art group Big Tail Elephant Group with Lin Yilin, Liang Juhui, and Xu Tan.

Artist profile

Chen belongs to a generation of Chinese artists who grew up during a period of significant political, socio-economic and cultural change in China, when information and images were routinely suppressed and restricted, and when distinctions between fact and fiction were blurred. Perhaps because of this experience, Chen is acutely conscious and skeptical of the ways in which history is misread and misrepresented, stating that even today "in our education, history is deliberately misinterpreted, randomly deleted and repeatedly distorted". Although his works are politically engaged, Chen refrains from making bold political statements, preferring a more multi-layered and open-ended approach, which he is able to achieve through the moving image.

''Ink History''

''Ink History'' (2010) visually chronicles China’s history, from the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 to the beginning of the twenty-first century with images of the last Emperor, Japanese military presence, the

Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Chinese Red Army, Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Revolut ...

, and

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

announcing the People’s Republic of China, among others. Carefully selected and sparingly released at a time when all media were under Party control, these pictures became iconic—saturated with political meanings as well as personal memories. ''Ink History'' explores the relationship between personal and collective memory within the context of China’s historical trajectory. The work is accompanied by a soundtrack of well known propaganda songs, historical speeches and the relentless ticking of a clock. Whether it represents a clock or a time bomb is for viewers to decide.

Death

Chen Shaoxiong died on 26 November 2016, at age 54.

Exhibitions

Chen Shaoxing's work is currently on at the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

in New York as part of ''Tales of Our Time'', an exhibition that features newly commissioned artworks from Greater China.

Collections

Chen Shaoxing's work is a number of major collections including the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

, M+,

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, and the Uli Sigg collection in Switzerland among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Shaoxiong Artists from Guangdong 1962 births Living people