Xu Zhen (artist) - Biography

Biography

Xu Zhen's art-making has crossed over various disciplines, from installation, photography, video to performance and painting. Executed with a critical intelligence, low-tech subtlety and often in forms of theatric pranks, Xu’s work focuses on human sensitivity (Rainbow, 1998; In Just a Blink of an Eye, 2005–07) and dramatizes the humdrum of urban living (ShanghArt Supermarket, 2007). His recent pieces have employed more provocative lexicons and social interventions so as to confront sociopolitical issues and taboos within the context of contemporary China (8848 - 1.86, 2005).

Over his decade’s long career, Xu Zhen has exhibited internationally, at museums and biennales, such as, Venice Biennale (2001, 2005), The Museum of Modern Art (New York, 2004), ICP (2004), Mori Art Museum (2005), PS1 (2006), Tate Liverpool (2007), etc. Xu Zhen’s curatorial experiments and engagement with an alternative art space and a website has complements and extends his conceptual practices.

Xu Zhen lives and works in Shanghai and is represented by ShanghART gallery in Shanghai and James Cohan gallery New York.

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