RU XIAO FAN
Presentation
Xiao Fan’s artistic and cultural education enriches his works by drawing connections between tradition and the contemporary, between East and West. He describes himself as “a man before nature” whether human or not. When he isn’t creating hybrid flowers with organic appearances, he paints canvases riddled with consumer goods made iconic, some entitled Garbage Bins, denouncing centrifugal and disoriented cultures. Xiao Fan has not stopped sculpting or painting flowers from his Chinese roots, wherein the evocation of floral motifs oscillates between ancient poetry and bloody crimes, whose trauma still remains under the Maoist slogan “Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom.” The still life is a recurring theme in his work; whether he paints toys, crustaceans, or bouquets, a vital, though barely perceptible, link draws them all together. Crafted from successive layers of glaze, this gut-like hose is the only source of oxygen in these compulsive representations and invasive floral masses and, overwhelmed, man is on the verge of suffocation.
Biography
Born in 1954 in Nanjing, China; Lives and works in Paris, France since 1983.
1988 and 1990
Fellow of the Casa Velasquez in Madrid, Spain.
1986
Degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.
1982
Degree in Fine Arts from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Nanjing, China.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2020
- Carte blanche à Ru Xiao Fan, National Museum of Asian Arts – Guimet, Paris, France.
2019
- Galerie RX, Paris, France.
2017
- L’homme Pense, dieu rit, commissioned by Didi Pei and Pascale Le Thorel, Suzhou Museum, China.
2016
- Cultural Center, Les Lilas, France.
- Gallery Jung at KIAF, Gallery Jung, Seoul, South Korea.
2015
- Méditations, MTP Gallery, Luxembourg.
2014
- Frenetic Quietism : Zhao Gang and Ru Xiaofan, Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts, Beijing, China.
- Rong Kun Museum of Fine Art, Beijing, China.
2013
- Limited / Unlimited, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
- Quietism, Rong Kun Museum of Fine Arts, Beijing, China.
2012
- De l’, Zhu Quingsheng, Dialogue Space, Beijing, China.
2011
- Que cent fleurs s’épanouissent…, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
- Inspire – Expire, Dialogue Space, Beijing, China.
2010
- My secret garden, coproduction with Rue89, Paris, France.
2009
- En abondance, Galerie Quintessens, Utrecht, Netherlands.
- Translucent, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China.
2008
- Centre d’art du Domaine Orenga de Gaffory, Patrimonio, Corsica, France.
- Adam Gallery, London, UK.
- The Mao project, Cà Muse, Venice, Italy.
2007
- Enjoy, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
2006
- Leehwaik Gallery, Seoul, South Korea.
- Hengevoss Dürkop Gallery, Hamburg, Germany.
2005
- Safe Contact, Museum of Fine Arts, Shanghai, China.
- Safe Contact, Quintessens Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands.
- Safe Contact, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
2004
- Gallery Mickael Goedhuis, New York, USA.
- La botanique – mouvement cent fleurs, Raymond Poincaré hospital media library, in collaboration with the FRAC Ile-de-France, Garches, France.
- Bubble Game, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
- Bubble Game, White Box, New York, Etats-Unis.
2003
- Quintessens Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands.
- 100 Fleurs et peintures récentes, Museum of the Ursulines, Mâcon, France.
2002
- Charlotte Moser, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Cent Fleurs, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
2001
- Cent Fleurs, La Villa Tamaris, Contemporary Art Center, La Seyne-sur-Mer, France.
- Quintessens Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands.
- Art Fair Amsterdam, Quintessens Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands.
1999
- Hundred Flowers, Saint Jacques Chapel, Saint Gaudens, Ministry of Culture, DRAC Midi-Pyrénées, France.
1998
- Quintessens Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands.
1996
- Colombani-Robin, Contemporary Art, Paris, France.
- Quintessens Gallery, Utrecht,Netherlands.
- Palais des Congrès, Paris, France.
1995
- Fernando Latorre Gallery, Saragosse, Spain.
1994
- Symptôme, Quintessens Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands.
1993
- Ballons, Gallery of Hesdin , Paris, France.
1992
- Ballons, Liverpool Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.
- Ballons, Quintessens Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands.
- Ballons, Gastaud Gallery, Clermont Ferrand, France.
1991
- Pommes, Van Melle Gallery, Paris, France.
1989
- Escaliers, Praz-Delavalade Gallery, Paris, France.
1988
- Escaliers, Victoire Schlumberger, Paris, France.
1987
- Calligraphies, Ecole Polytechnique, Massy Palaiseau, France.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2019
- L’art mange l’art, Regards de Provence Foundation, Marseille, France
2016
- Inauguration, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
- Winter, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
2015
- Artistes à la Une, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France.
- Bienniale de Sologne, Chaumont-sur-Tharonne, France.
2013
- Et la Chine s’est éveillée…, Chapel of the Visitation, Thonon-les-Bains, France.
- International Drawing Festival, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka, Croatia.
2011
- Artistes chinois à Paris, Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France.
2010
- Newera, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
- Art Asia Fair, Dialogue Space, Miami, USA.
- L’Océan, Bellevue, Biarritz, France.
- Art Taipei, Dialogue Space, Taipei, China.
- CIGE Beijing Art Fair, Dialogue Space, Beijing, China.
- Pauly Art Gallery, Venice, Italy.
- Dialogue Space, Beijing, China.
2009
- Les David, Contemporary Art Academy, Paris, France.
- Play time, Saint-Germain course, Paris, France.
2008
- Maeght Gallery, Paris, France.
- Spring Bloom in Venice, Pauly Art Gallery, Venice, Italy.
- Le temps au temps, Riff Art Projects Gallery, Strasbourg, France.
- Du vent dans les branches, Artsenat, Orangerie, Paris, France.
- Art Paris, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
2007
- Franch Touche, Villa Tamaris, La Seyne sur Mer, France.
- KIAF, Galerie RX, Seoul, South Korea.
- Les Nouveaux Pop, SOMA Museum, Seoul, South Korea.
- Art Paris, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
2006
- Art Cologne, Galerie RX, Cologne, Germany.
- Les Nouveaux Pop, La Villa Tamaris, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Le Seyne sur Mer, France.
- CIGE, Galerie Sun, Beijing, China.
- KIAF, Galerie RX, Paris, Seoul, South Korea.
- Amsterdam KunstRAI, Galerie RX, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- Quintessence, School of Fine Arts of Nîmes, France.
2005
- Touch Without Danger, curator Zoe Zhang, Shanghai, China.
- Triennale of Contemporary art, Tirana, Albania.
- My Favorite things, curator R. Leydier, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France.
- Museum of Art, Duolum, China.
2004
- ARTissima, Galerie RX, Turin, Italy.
- Art Chicago, Gallery Mickael Goedhuis, USA.
- Beyond Paradise, Galerie RX invited to Galerie Hengevoss Dürkop, Hamburg, Germany.
- Art Brussels, Galerie RX, Brussels, Belgium.
2003
- d.u.m.b.o Arts Center, Brooklyn, Etats-Unis.
- Aura, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
2002
- Inaugural exhibition of the Galerie RX, Paris, France.
- Autour de la Figuration, L’Onde, Cultural Space of Velizy-Villacoublay, France.
- Art Line Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.
2001
- Charlotte Moser Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland.
1997
- International Contemporary Art Competition, Michelin, France; Prize : Special Mention.
1996
- Spirit of Art, Abbaye of Royaumont, Asnières sur Seine, France.
- Lucien Durand Gallery, Art Fair Cologne, Germany.
1995
- FIAC, Lucien Durand Gallery, Paris, France.
1994
- Art Fair, Liverpool Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1991
- Découvertes, Van Melle Gallery, Paris, France.
- Salon de mars, Jacques Barrère Gallery, France.
- Salon de Montrouge, Montrouge, France.
- Galerie Fernando Latorre, Saragosse, Spain.
1990
- Stockholm Art Fair, Galerie Westlund, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Salon de Montrouge, Montrouge, France.
- Salon de Mai, Grand Palais, Paris, France.
- Art Partner : l’art dans l’entreprise, Villa Gilet, Paris, France.
1988
- Salon des Jeunes Peintres, Grand Palais, Paris, France.
1986
- Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Grand Palais, Paris, France.
- Yan Pei-Ming and Ru Xiao Fan, Espace Vendôme, UAP, Paris, France.
1984
- Galerie Actes Sud, Arles, France.
1983
- Galerie Art Promotion, Hong Kong.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
- Fondation Michelin, Grand Prix, Paris, France.
- Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain d’Ile de France, France.
- Collection Sosume, Dublin, Ireland.
- Musée des Ursulines, Mâcon, France.
- Fondation Salomon, Alex, France.
- Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, France.
- Réalisation la fresque de La Coupole, Paris, France.
- National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea.
- Today Art Museum, Beijing, China.
- Musée Cernuschi, Paris, France.
- Fondation Colas, Paris, France.
- Dragon Museum, Shanghai, China.
CATALOGUES
2017
- L’homme pense, dieu rit, Suzhou Museum, China
2014
- Quiétisme : Ru, Xiao-Fan, text by You Yong, Rong Kun Fine Art Museum, Beijing, China
2012
- De L’, text by Zhu Qingsheng, Dialogue Space Gallery, Beijing, China
- Piano aux Jacobins, 33ème Festival, Toulouse town hall, France
2011
- Inspire/Expire, texts by Zhu Qingsheng and Hou Hanru, Dialogue Space Gallery, Beijing, China
2010
- Xiao Fan Ru, text by Pascale Le Thorel, Nouveau dictionnaire des artistes contemporains, Larousse, Paris, France
2009
- Translucide, text by Pascal Le Thorel, Art Today Museum, Beijing, China
- Ru Xiao-Fan, text by Pascale Le Thorel, Les David, Académie pour l’art contemporaine, Paris, France
- Play time, Parcours Saint Germain, Paris, France
2008
- Maos ?, text by Pascale Le Thorel, Valérie Niquet and Andrea Zanconnatto
2006
- Les Nouveaux Pop, text by Jean-Luc Chalumeau, Editions du Cercle d’Art, Paris, France
2005
- Safecontact, Jean de Loisy, Hau hanru, Museum of Fine Arts, Shanghai, China.
2004
- Bubble Games, Edition du Musée des Ursulines, Macon, France.
2001
- Xiao Fan Cent Fleurs, Pascale le Thorel-Daviot, Villa Tamaris, La Syen sur Mer, France.
1999
- One Hundred Flowers, Hou Hanru, Bernard Goy, Edition Association Chapelle-Saint-Jacques Barrère, Paris, France.
1995
- Estudio para una escultura, Alain Jones, Edition Fernando Latore, Zaragoza, Spain.
1992
- Alpha Centuari, Marie-Odille Andrade, Edition Jacques Barrère, Paris, France.
1988
- Ru Xiao Fan, Franck Maubert, Edition Victoire Schlumberger, Paris, France.