I had been working on ceramics for about eight years. Before, I used to paint on silk. After my first solo exhibition ended, and before the beginning of my second solo show, I was thinking if there were any other possibilities. The paintings on silk leaned more towards pure visuality. During this period, I was constantly studying the light and colors as perceived by the human retina and how these elements eliminate our other perceptions. Once I achieved this, I began again to reflect on the importance of materiality and substance. Because when painting on silk, one can never paint black but only colour - there is thus no end.
— Xie Fan
Xie Fan (b. 1983, Jiangyou, Sichuan Province, China) is a contemporary Chinese artist who re-examines the material essence of painting and the way images interact with light, surface and time. Having begun his practice with oil painting on silk, the artist used translucent fabric to investigate how light, color and the viewer’s perception interact. Over time his focus shifted toward more elemental supports, leading him into long-term material research on clay and terracotta. Rather than using traditional canvas, Xie Fan applies layers of mineral pigments and oxides onto raw clay surfaces and then fires them at high temperatures, allowing chemical transformations in the kiln to become part of the work’s visual language. This method foregrounds chance, memory and the physicality of matter itself, forging a dialogue between painting, craft and sculpture.
Xie Fan received his BFA from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI) in 2005. Recent solo exhibitions include ‘In Between', Maison Ming (Hongkong, China); 'Painting as Event', Bangkok Kunsthalle (Bangkok, Thailand); 'Various Fires', Académie Conti (Vosne-Romanée, France, 2024); 'Dionysus‘s Screen', Marguo (Paris, France, 2023); 'Sediment', Sifang Art Museum, Tongren Road Space (Shanghai, China, 2022); 'Back To The Footlights Tomorrow', WHITE SPACE BEIJING (Beijing, China, 2014). Xie Fan currently lives and works in Beijing and Chengdu. His works are held in prominent private and institutional collections, including the Pond Society, Shanghai; X Museum, China; Tao Art Collection, Taipei; Hautes Côtes Collection, France; and a commissioned collection for Louis Vuitton. His works are also collected by board members of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, China, and the New Museum, New York.
Born 1983 in Jiangyou, Sichuan, China. Lives and works between Beijing and Sichuan, China.
Education
| 2005 |
MFA, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Sichuan, China |
Solo Exhibitions
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2026 |
Maison Ming, In Between, Hong Kong |
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2025 |
Kunsthalle Bangkok, Painting as Event, Bangkok, Thailand |
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2024 |
Académie Conti, Various Fires, Vosne-Romanée, France |
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2023 |
Galerie Marguo, Dionysuss Screen, Paris, France |
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2022 |
Sifang Art Museum, Sediment, Shanghai, China |
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2016 |
Lin & Lin Gallery, One and A Half Years, Taipei |
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2014 |
WHITE SPACE BEIJING, Back to the Footlights Tomorrow, Beijing, China |
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2012 |
A4 Contemporary Arts Center, A4 Young Artist Experimental Season 2nd Round Exhibition, Chengdu, China |
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WHITE SPACE BEIJING, The Layers, Beijing, China |
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2011 |
Mapping Asia, Xie Fan, Beijing, China |
Group Exhibitions
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2025 |
Blunt Society, From Points to Lines: The Micro Art Biennale, Shanghai, China |
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2024 |
LDMS Galleria M, Gleaming: The Twin Flames, Shanghai, China |
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2023 |
Wind H Art Center, Night is the Shadow of the Earth, Beijing, China |
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Blunt Society, A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place, Shanghai, China |
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2022 |
Dongyi Art Gallery, Epic Everyday: Urban Life and Public Space in Chengdu, Chengdu, China |
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2019 |
WHITE SPACE BEIJING, A White Space Odyssey, Beijing, China |
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2017 |
Gowolhun, Silkroad on the Moonlight, Seoul, South Korea |
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A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, Spring Discovery 2017, Chengdu, China |
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Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art, Reading the Raindrops-Western Artists Documenta, Yinchuan, China |
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2016 |
Wangying Art Museum, Life Forest, Shijiazhuang, China |
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Taikang Space, Ghost In Flash: Post- photography in China, Beijing, China |
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Gallery Su, Unflattening, Seoul, Korea |
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Sifang Art Museum, Mountain Sites: Views of Laoshan, Nanjing, China |
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China Art Museum, Wu Yu × Fang Yan, Shanghai, China |
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SPSI ART MUSEUM, Transcendence, Shanghai, China |
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2015 |
All-Russian Exhibition Centre, Moscow Biennale, Moscow, Russia |
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SIFANG ART MUSEUM, Excellent Chinese Painter, Satisfaction Guaranteed Liao Guohe, Nanjing, China |
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Tokyo Gallery, In Between Sceneries: Intuition and Experience, Beijing, China |
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2014 |
Lin & Lin Gallery, Wormhole – Geo – Attraction, Taipei |
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WHITE SPACE BEIJING, Memo II, Beijing, China |
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2013 |
Suzhou Art Museum, Yan Wenliang Art Award, Suzhou, China |
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2012 |
Lin & Lin Gallery, A City of Others, Taipei |
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CAFA Art Museum, CAFAM Future Exhibition – Sub – phenomenon: Ecology Report of Chinese Young Art, Beijing, China |
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2011 |
Sakshi Gallery, Essence of Memory, Taipei |
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LArt Gallery, New Colour, Chengdu, China |
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2010 |
Mercator Foundation, Das Ich Im Anderen, Essen, Germany |
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XIE FanCelestial Signs, 2024Oil on terracotta plate30 x 30 cm (11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in) -
XIE FanFlame, 2024Gold foil and oil on terracotta plate30 x 30 cm (11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in)
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Xie FanFern, 2023Oil on silk100 x 80 cm (39 3/8 x 31 1/2 in)
104 x 84 x 6.4 cm (framed) -
Xie FanLandscape · Alsophila Spinulosa, 2023Oil on terracotta plate40 x 30 cm (15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in)
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Xie FanLandscape · City, 2023Oil on terracotta plate40 x 30 cm (15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in)
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Xie FanScreen · Mount Kailash, 2023Oil on terracotta plate30 x 40 cm (11 3/4 x 15 3/4 in)
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Xie FanScreen · Sea, 2023Oil on pottery plate30 x 40 cm (11 3/4 x 15 3/4 in)
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Xie FanFern, 2022Oil on terracotta plate38 x 28 cm (15 x 11 in)
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XIE FanCelestial Signs, 2019 - 2022Oil on terracotta plate30 x 30 cm (11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in)
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XIE FanCloud, 2019 - 2022Oil on terracotta plate12 x 8 cm (4 3/4 x 3 1/8 in)
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Xie FanFlame, 2019 - 2022Gold foil and oil on terracotta plate30 x 30 cm (11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in)
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Xie FanGolden Sea, 2019 - 2022Gold foil and oil on terracotta plate34 x 43 cm (13 3/8 x 16 7/8 in)
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Xie Fan at Bangkok Kunsthalle
Exhibition at Bangkok Kunsthalle 2 May 2025Revisit Painting as Event , Xie Fan’s solo exhibition at Bangkok Kunsthalle through this short video capturing highlights from the immersive dining performance on opening...Read more -
Xie Fan: Various Fires
Exhibition at Académie Conti, Vosne-Romanée Film 26 Apr 2024The Académie Conti, a collaborative project between the Consortium Museum and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, presents Chinese artist Xie Fan 's first institutional exhibition in...Read more -
Xie Fan: Dionysus's Screen
Paris Exhibition Full Film 3 Jul 2023Galerie Marguo is delighted to present Chinese artist Xie Fan’s first solo exhibition in Europe Dionysus’s Screen, on view in Paris from 4 July to...Read more -
Xie Fan: Dionysus's Screen
Paris Exhibition Teaser 22 Jun 2023Read more
