Shen Fan (Chinese: 申凡; born 1952) is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

contemporary artist Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

currently based in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. He creates work of temperament of the classical Chinese literati arts with intuition.

Early life

Shen Fan’s childhood years were spent in the countryside. Around the age of ten, he went to Shanghai for study and finished elementary school and middle school. For the following six years, Shen did farm work in the countryside, planting all sorts of corps, and he would practice

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

and

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

by himself when he was not working. At the end of six years, he went back to Shanghai, where he became a product designer.

Career

While Shen Fan graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the Shanghai Light Industry Institute (now:

Shanghai Institute of Technology The Shanghai Institute of Technology (SIT; ) is a public application-orientated university in Shanghai, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, ...

) In 1986, the artist began to work in abstract painting around 1982, using such materials as Chinese ink, watercolor and oil paint. With the

reform and opening-up The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of Ch ...

policies initiated by

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

, the art scene in China underwent a profound change as the sudden availability of Western art publications prompted many artists to adopt the Western style, including abstraction, as a new mode of art creation. Rooting his work in

Eastern philosophy Eastern philosophy or Asian philosophy includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philosophy; which are dominant in East Asia, ...

in his pursuit of modernity, Shen represents the rich tradition of abstraction in Shanghai as one of its most important and pioneering figures in the art world.

Style

Shen Fan began disassembling concrete forms and space in painting in the 80s, and started creating abstract painting works. Since the late 1990s, Shen Fan has endeavored to bring Chinese painting elements into a wide variety of mediums and materials including

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

neon light Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode at ...

, metal, and music, expanding the boundaries between traditional and new media. He is one of the earlier Chinese artists who amalgamate classical aesthetics into the contemporary context to explore contemporary Chinese cultural expressions. Shen Fan’s works are composed of various series with distinctive features, and ever-evolving materials, while maintaining the temperament of the classical Chinese literati arts. His installation works of 2006 go back to

Huang Binhong Huáng Bīnhóng (; 1865–1955) was a Chinese literati painter and art historian born in Jinhua, Zhejiang province. His ancestral home was She County, Anhui province.Cihai: Page 2056. He was the grandson of artist Huang Fengliu. He would lat ...

period and re-analyse the use of space and brush strokes of classical Chinese landscape paintings. Through interactions among vision, touch, text and so on, Shen Fan provides an integrated way of viewing, which embodies his shifted and more wholesome viewing logic.

Selected solo exhibitions

* 1988 ''Shen Fan's Works on Paper'',

Shanghai Art Museum The Shanghai Art Museum () was an art museum in the city of Shanghai, China. In October 2012, the museum was rebranded as the China Art Museum when it moved to the China pavilion at Expo 2010 on the former Shanghai Expo 2010 lands. The Shanghai ...

, Shanghai, China * 1997 ''Shen Fan'',

Consulate General of France This is a list of diplomatic missions of France, excluding honorary consulates. France's permanent representation abroad began in the reign of Francis I, when in 1522 he sent a delegation to the Swiss. Despite its reduced presence following decol ...

, Shanghai, China * 2008 ''I have Been Here'',

Usher Gallery The Usher Gallery is an art museum in Lincoln, England. The gallery displays a collection of artworks by painters such as J. M. W. Turner and L. S. Lowry. Established in 1927, it is run as part of the Collection. History James Ward Usher wa ...

; The Collection of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK * 2017 ''Shen Fan: Punctuation - The Second Time'', The Barn Contemporary Art Space, Shenzhen, China

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shen, Fan Living people Chinese contemporary artists Painters from Shanghai 1952 births