Artists › Sui Jianguo › Biography - Exhibitions
Biography of Sui Jianguo
Sui Jianguo was born in Singtao, Shan Dong province in 1956.
Education
He studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing where he graduated in 1984 and is now Associate Professor at the sculpture department there. He has also spent some time teaching in Paris as a guest professor. Sui has held solo shows in China, Australia, Hong Kong, India and Taiwan and has participated in numerous high-profile exhibitions worldwide.
Influences
In the works of Jurassic Age and Clothes Vein Study by Sui Jianguo, artistic symbols represent both form and essence. We can perceive that symbols and forms have many interrelations with many problems in social reality and daily life. Symbols can be overlapping and can also ease many clashes and contradictions. Symbols are, indeed, a serious of set discourse system.
For example, Clothes Vein Study is a sample of combination of teaching experience and artistic experiments discussing the relationship between academy system and modern arts. According to Sui Jianguo words, his Clothes Vein Study is what he has learned from his everyday teaching and he treats it as the way to bridge the gap between his status of an artist and teacher.
However, Sui Jianguo regards "Made in China" as a meaningful object to analyze in his sculpture of Jurassic Age. The so-called "Made" in the symbol "Made in China" relates directly to some topics on economical relations. Who is making? What is being made? Where is it being made? Where is it going to be sold? In this context, it is unnecessary for us to answer these questions.
What the artists actually did is to leave these questions to the audience to reflect. Besides, we shall analyze some question behind the works through analyzing the works of these artists and the process of creating methodologically. Is the things been made bearing real "Chinese characteristics"? The big "dinosaurs" made by Sui Jianguo are magnified versions of the pink plastic toys.
What is worth mentioning, the toy dinosaur is sold mainly to Southeast Asia though it is made in Shenzhen in the south of China. Interestingly, Sui Jianguo first saw this kind of dinosaur in Japan and created this work because the dinosaur was appealing to his experience aboard.
In order to emphasize his intention, he was faithful to the original shape, color and texture when copying and magnifying the toy dinosaurs except that the symbol of "Made in China" was carved on the midsection of the dinosaurs and was magnified in size so that it can be noticed easily.
When international floating capital intrudes into China and becoming more and more rampant, the voice of anti-globalization is becoming louder and louder. The transnational manufacturing of floating capital has changed the connotation of "country" and "region".
Exhibitions of Sui Jianguo
2008
- Ships at Sea, C-Space, Beijing, China
- Hunting Birds, Tang Contemporary, Beijing, China
- Free Fall, Chen Ling Hui Contemporary Space, Beijing, China
- New World Order, Groninger Museum, The Netherlands
- Crouching Paper, Hidden Dragon - Works on Paper, F2 Gallery, Beijing, China
- Sui Jianguo: Revealing Traces, JoyArt, Beijing, China (solo)
2007
- Sui Jianguo, Arario Beijing, Beijing, China (solo)
- Fashion Accidentally, MOCA Taipei, Taipei
- Contemporary Art, Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
- Metamorphosis - The Generation of Transformation in Chinese
- Barcelona - Paris - Pekin, Espace Cultural Ample, Barcelona, Spain
- Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
- Absolute Images II, Arario Gallery, New York, USA
- ! CHINA NOW !, McClain Gallery, Houston, USA
- MADE in CHINA - The Estella Collection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, Louisiana
- China Now, Lost in Transition, Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, USA
- RED HOT - Asian Art Today from the Chaney Family Collection, Houston Museum of Fine Art, Houston, USA
2006
- Speeding Up - Sui Jianguo Solo Exhibition, Arario Gallery, Beijing, China (solo)
- Fiction@Love, MOCA Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- CHINA TRADE, Centre A - Vancouver International Center for Contemporary Asian Art, Vancouver, BC
- Jiang Hu, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, USA, Los Angeles, USA
- ABSOLUTE IMAGES: Chinese Contemporary Art, Arario Chungcheongnam-do, Cheonan-si, Korea
- Under the Radar: Chinese Contemporary Art, Robischon Gallery, Denver, USA
- Double-sound Cracker, Tang Contemporary, Beijing, China
2004 - 2006
- Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Asia Society, International Center for Photography, New York, USA, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2005
- Mahjong - Chinese Contemporary Art from the Sigg Collection, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Germany
- Xianfeng - Chinese avant-garde, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, The Netherlands
- Beijing International Contemporary Art Exhibition
- Beautiful Cynicism, Arario Beijing, Beijing, China
- Renovation - Relations of Production, Long March Foundation, Beijing, China
- Sui Jianguo-Sleep of Reason, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA (solo)
2004
- Playing with CHI Energy, House of Shiseido, Tokyo, Japan
- What is Art-Two Wrongs Can Make One Right, Xian Art Museum, Xian, China
- Gods Becoming Men, Firssiras Museum, Athens, Greece
- The First Nominative Literation, Exhibition of Fine Arts, Wuhan, China
- Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney, Australia
- Now-Conceptual Estate in Shanghai, Shanghai Show Center, China
- Image China, Jardin Des Tuileries, Paris, France
- Le Moine and Le De'mon, Lyon Contemporary Art Museum, Lyon, France
- Busan Sculpture Project, Busan, Korea
- Light as Fuch, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway
- Celebrating 20 Years of Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
- Art on the Beach, organized by Galerie Enrico Navarra and Hanart T Z Gallery, St. Tropez, France
- "Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China", Asia Society, International Center for Photography, New York
- Lili Waiwai, Lyon Contemporary Art Museum, Lyon, France
2003
- An Opening Era - 40th Anniversary of the Founding of CAFA, CAFA
- Open Sky, Duolun Art Museum, Shanghai
- Left Wing, Left Bank Plaza, Beijing
- Second Reality, Apple Place, Beijing
- Red Memory, 798 Art District, Beijing
- Today's Chinese Art, Shijitan, Beijing
- Open Time, NAGC
- 2003 Beaufort - Triennial Contemporary Art, Oostende
- Contemporary Sculpture - China Korea Japan Osaka Museum, Japan
- Chinese Art Today, China Millennium Monument Art Museum, Beijing
2002
- Mirage, Su Zhou Art Museum, Suzhou
- Guang Zhong Triennial, Guang Dong Art Museum
1999
- Clothes Viens Studying, Passage Gallery, Beijing (solo)
1997
- Meeting the Shadow of 100 Years, Victoria College of Arts, Melbourne (solo)
1996
- Sui Jianguo Sculpture, Hannart, Hong Kong (solo)
1995
- Deposit and Fault, New Delhi Cultural Research Centre, India (solo)
1994
- Beyond Boundaries, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
- Memory Space - Works of Sui Jianguo, Beijing (solo)
- Sui Jianguo Sculpture, CAFA (solo)
- Sui Jianguo Sculpture, Hannart Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan (solo)
