Xie Nanxing
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Biography
Born in 1970 in Chongqing, China
Lives and works in Beijing and Chengdu, China
Within the Chinese modern art scene, Xie Nanxing has carved out a special place for himself. The artist has explored the infinite possibilities of painting over the course of his decades-long practice. From his photorealist self-portraits and male nudities that he displayed at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999, just three years after graduating from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, to his out-of-focus renderings of nocturnal gardens, which he presented at documenta 12 in Kassel in 2007.
Recent and notable solo and group exhibitions include Sigg Prize at M+, Hong Kong (2023-2024); UCCA Edge, Beijing (2023); Beijing Bienniale (2022); Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing (2021); Song Art Museum, Beijing (2020); Hive Center For Contemporary Art, Beijing (2020); Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (2019); MAK Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna (2019); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2018); Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing (2016); Museum of Contemporary Art Chengdu (2016); Today Art Museum, Beijing (2016); Shanghai 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum (2015); OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT), Shenzhen (2014); Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina (CCCS), Palazzo Strozzi, Florence (2010); Kunsthalle Basel (2002); documenta 12, Kassel (2007); Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof (2005); Manchester Art Gallery (2003) and La Biennale di Venezia, 48. Esposizione Internationale d’Arte, Venice (1999).
Nanxing’s work is included in renowned international contemporary art collections, among them M+Museum, Hong Kong; the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas; Start Museum, Shanghai; Sammlung Goetz, Munich and By Art Matters, Hangzhou.
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When I paint something new, the mark that has come from my hand or my mind demands that I study it, that I analyse and try to understand it. Then finally, perhaps, I can make use of it. This process brings me closer to my thoughts and putting all of this into my work helps to create more layers and more possibilities.
– Xie Nanxing
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Works
Xie Nanxing
The Dwarfs’ Refrain #7, 2020Oil on canvasSigned and dated recto150 x 150 cm
59 x 59 inchesB-XNANXING-.23-0001Neither entirely abstract, nor figurative, Xie Nanxing’s painting The Dwarfs’ Refrain #7 depicts a scene evoking an exchange between two anthropomorphic figures. Rendered in sporadic brushstrokes against a bright red...Neither entirely abstract, nor figurative, Xie Nanxing’s painting The Dwarfs’ Refrain #7 depicts a scene evoking an exchange between two anthropomorphic figures. Rendered in sporadic brushstrokes against a bright red background, the figures appear murky and indistinct, inviting the viewer to fill in the gaps of negative space present within the painting. The title references a body of work by the artist, but can also serve to indicate the depiction of a specific event. Based on an illustration by Nanxing’s father, who the artist commissioned to create several drawings in the cartoonish style of their childhood lessons, the ‘dwarfs’ of these illustrations, provide the source material for this series of paintings, distorted in various ways. Nanxing’s paintings are often full of intriguing contradictions that the viewer must navigate, their formal execution seemingly contrasting with the conceptual premise of the works.ExhibitionsExternal ExhibitionsPressPublicationsVideo