Born in Beijing in December 1962, Zhan Wang graduated from the Beijing School of Arts and Crafts in 1981, was admitted to the Sculpture Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 1983, graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in 1988, and graduated from the postgraduate course of the Sculpture Department of CAFA in 1996, and now works and lives in Beijing.

After graduation, he entered the Institute of Sculpture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, specializing in creative work, and in 2003, he was transferred to the Sculpture Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) as a professor of sculpture creation. 1995, he set up a Three-person Joint Studio with Sui Jianguo and Yu Fan; In 1998, he published his academic paper "Conceptual Sculpture - Materialized Concepts" in Art Research; in 1999, he curated the "Fifty Years Retrospective of Sculpture at the Institute of Fine Arts". During his tenure as the director of the Institute of Sculpture, he organized three experimental exhibitions of open studios, among which the "Obsession with Harm" triggered an international controversy; In 2003, the Third Studio of the Sculpture Department was formed, advocating the goal of training contemporary artists in the context of the Sculpture Department and practicing the method of curating exhibitions to promote teaching.

In the early days, his work has been influenced by Pop Art, he created super colorful realistic sculptures, represented by Sitting Girl (1990) and so on; from the mid-1990s, he was influenced by Conceptual Art, represented by the performance project 94 Ruin Cleaning Project (1994); then, integrating  his sculpture expertise and explored the creative direction of Conceptual Sculpture, and his representative works include the series of Mao Suit (1994), the Artificial Rock(Jiashanshi) series created since 1995 and New Map of Beijing -Rockery Remodeling Plan(1996); His representative personal projects include: "Burial: Shell of Mao Suits" (2002), "Floating Rock Drifts on the Open Sea" (2000), "Project to Inlay the Great Wall" (2001), "Urban Landscape" series (2002), and so on. His art is considered to have the quality of using simple material forms to formulate complex problems, and he has created various experimental artworks in sculpture, installation, photography, video and public art. In recent years, he has created various new works by overlapping interdisciplinary working methods, such as Suyuan Stone Generator—One Hour Equals 100 Million Years, and a video installation My Personal Universe, which he started to create in 2010, Forms in Flux, the computer algorithm work in collaboration with a mathematician in 2016. In addition, he has also created the latest works such as Finitude/Infinitude(2021)and Match Openings: Particle (2022）.

Zhan Wang has held more than twenty solo exhibitions and solo projects at home and abroad in his solo art career, the main solo exhibitions such as “Kong Ling· Kong—Temptation series”，(Central Academy of Fine Art Gallery, 1994), “Garden Utopia”, (National Art Museum of China,2008), “Suyuan Stone Generator - 1Hour Equals 100 Million Years”, (Today Art Museum, 2010), “Zhan Wang: My Personal Universe”, (Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 2011), “Forms in Flux “, (Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai,2017).and his works have participated in many international contemporary art biennials and triennials and sculpture exhibition in Venice, Shanghai, Singapore, Guangzhou Belgium, Hawaii, Holland, Australia, and Toronto, etc. In 2003, he was selected to participate in the first Chinese Pavilion of the 50th Venice Biennale. He has published more than ten books and albums. His works have been collected and displayed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, British Museum in London by the first piece Chinese contemporary sculpture, and in 2000 he was named by Japan's Art Handbook as one of the 100 Global Most Discussed Artists.

Solo Exhibitions

2020    

Zhan Wang: Objects of Idea,  Long March Space, Beijing

2019    

The Invisible: Zhan Wang, Eslite Gallery, Taipei

2017    

Forms in Flux, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai,

2015

Nothing for the Time Being, OCAT, Shanghai

2014  

Morph, Long March Space, Beijing

2012    

Form of Formless, Long March Space, Beijing

Universe, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore       

2011    

Zhan Wang: My Personal Universe, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing  

2010  

Suyuan Stone Generator - 1Hour Equals 100 Million Years, Today Art Museum, Beijing

Zhan Wang: Reflection, Eslite Gallery, Taipei

2008    

Zhan Wang: Garden Utopia, National Art Museum of China, Beijing

On Gold Mountain: Sculptures from The Sierra by Zhan Wang, Asian art museum,  San Francisco, USA

86 Divinity Figures, Long March Space, Beijing      

Zhan Wang, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, USA

2006

Zhan Wang: Urban Landscape – Beijing, Williams College Museum of Art, Massachusetts, USA

2005

Flowers in the Mirror, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong

2002

From Sweden to Taipei, Taipei-Tai Zhong

2001

Sham Nature—Zhan Wang’s Artificial ‘Jia Shan Shi’, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong

1994

Kong Ling· Kong—Temptation series, Central Academy of Fine Art Gallery, Beijing

Individual/Team projects

2021

Fractal Structure—Landscape Unlimited, The Chuan Malt Whisky Distillery Emeishan, Sichuan

2020

Prosperity, Zhaotai International Center, Beijing

2019

Insight and Vision—Sensing (Jya Art Project), UCCA Lab, UCCA Contemporary Art Center, Beijing

2004

Mount Everest Project—to the Summit, Everest 8853.5m, China

2002

Burial: Shell of Mao Suits, underneath the Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou

2001

Inlay the Great Wall, Remnant Great wall of Ba Daling, Beijing

In & out—Floating Rock on Sweden, Gothenburg, Sweden

2000

Beyond Twelve Nautical Miles—Floating Rock Drifts On The Open Sea, 12 nautical miles off Lingshan Island, Jiaonan, Qingdao, Shandong

1995

Property Development project by the Three Men United Studio, Sculpture Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing

Women/Here, the second project by the Three Men United Studio, Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing

1994

94 Ruin Cleaning Project, Wangfujing, Beijing

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023  

Chengdu Biennial, Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, Sichuan, China

Matter as Actor, Lisson Gallery, London, UK

2022  

Literati and Artisan, Nanchizi Museum, Beijing

Beijing Biennial 2022, Beijing Friendship Store, Beijing

2021

IMAGINE ·Amsterdam Sculpture Biennale ARTZUID, Holland

Duration: Chinese Art in Transformation, Ming Sheng Art Museum, Beijing

2020

Longing for Nature – Reading Landscapes in Chinese Art, Museum Rietberg Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland            

2020 Wuhan 5th Documentary Exhibition of Fine Arts, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan

2019  

The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA

Curitiba International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Museu Oscar Niemeyer，Curitiba, Braz

2018

Sculpture by the Sea 2018, Perth, Australia

Art History: Shaped by 40 Artists from 1978 to 2018, Power Long Museum, Shanghai

2017

Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA

The 1st Honolulu Biennial: Middle of Now | Here, Honolulu, USA

2016

M+ Sigg Collection: Four Decades of Chinese Contemporary Art, Artis Tree, HONG KONG

Kenpoku Art 2016 Northern Ibaraki Art Festival, Tenshin Memorial Museum of Art, Ibaraki, Japan

2015

CHINA 8, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany

Breaking the Image, Si Shang Art Museum, Beijing

2014

The Third Criticism: Art Language, Times Art Museum, Beijing

Art Basel: Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland

2013

Passage to History – 20 Years of the Venice Biennial and Chinese Contemporary Art, Venice, Italy

Glasstress 2013: White Light / White Heat Collateral event of the 55th international art exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

2012  

Sculpture 2012 (Group Exhibition of Five Sculptors), Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan

The Revival of Tradition– Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, La Galleria Pall Mall, London, UK

2011

Louis Vuitton– Voyage, National Museum of China, Beijing, China

The 5th Chengdu Biennale, Sichuan

2010

Reshaping History: China Art 2000-2009, National Convention Center, Today Art Museum, Arario Gallery, Beijing

Art for the World·Exposition Axis Sculpture Gallery International Sculpture Exhibition: The City of Forking Paths, Shanghai

2009

Biennial Cuvee, OK Centre for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria

The 2nd Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada

2008

The 2nd Singapore Biennale: Wonder，Singapore

New World Order: Contemporary Installation Art and Photography from China, Groningen Museum, Groningen, Netherlands

2007

The First Today’s Documents–Energy: Spirit·Body·Material, Today Museum, Beijing

China Onward: The Estella Collection – Chinese Contemporary Art, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark

2006

The 6th Shanghai Biennale: Hyper-Design, Shanghai

2006 Beaufort: 2nd Triennial of Contemporary Art on the Sea, PMMK, Oostende, Belgium

2005

Universal Experience - Art, Life and the Tourist’s Eye, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA

The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art,  World Art Museum, Beijing; Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA                                       

2004  

Chinese Contemporary Art Touring Exhibition, Museo Arte Contemporanea di Rome, Rome, Italy;Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary                                    

First Document Nomination Exhibition, Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Wuhan

2003  

The 50th Venice Biennale Chinese Pavilion: Dreams and Conflicts - The Dictatorship of the Viewer, Synthi-Scapes, Venice, Italy; Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou

First Beijing International Art Biennale, National Art Museum of China, Beijing

2002  

The 1st Guangzhou Triennial: Reinterpretation – A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art (1990-2000), Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou

The Long March - A Walking Visual Display: New Plan to Fill the Sky,  Xichang, Sichuan    

2001  

Dream: Contemporary Art of China, Atlantic Fine Art, London, UK

Knowledge is Power, Beijing Book Building, Beijing

2000

Open 2000: International Exhibition of Sculpture and Installation, Venice, Italy

The 3rd Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai,

1999

Transience –  Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century, The Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, USA

Second Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture, He Xiangning Museum, Shenzhen

1998

Trace of Existence: A Private Showing of Chinese Contemporary Art, Modern Art Studio, Beijing

First Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture, He Xiangning Museum, Shenzhen

1997

Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Watari-um Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Cities on the Move - Asian Contemporary Art (Touring Exhibition 1997-1999), Austria; France; USA; Denmark; UK; Finland; Thailand

1996

International Outdoor Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture, Fukuoka, Japan

Invitational Academic Exhibition of Contemporary Artists, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong

1995

45 Degrees as a Reason, Art Exchange, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing

Open Your Mouth, Close Your Eyes: Beijing – Berlin Art Exchange, Art Museum of the Capital Normal University, Beijing  

1994

Agree to 11/26 as a Reason, Art Exchange, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing

1991

New Generation Art Exhibition, Chinese History Museum, Beijing

Awards

2020

GQ Artist of the Year

Robb Report Best of the Best Awards for Artist

2017

Robb Report Best of the Best Awards for Artist

2011     

Harper’s Bazaar Men’s Style

AAC Art China·Annual Influence

2006    

Martell Extraordinary Artist Award

Selected for inclusion in the American University textbook of art history, The Power of Art

2000    

100 Global Most Discussed Artists, Art Handbook, Japan

Courtesy of the Artist.