Tai Xiangzhou

1968
Yinchuan Ningxia China
Tai was born in Ningxia Province to a scholarly family in 1968 and started studying calligraphy with Hu Gongshi (1912-1997) since he was 7 years old. He graduated from the Department of Digital Media, Media Design School, Auckland, New Zealand in 2001. Although he had a successful career in media design and conservation, he decided to further his studies in painting and received a Ph.D. from the Department of Painting, Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 2012. He layers different gray ink tones on silk to enrich the brushwork and to give a misty atmosphere similar to the vast universe.

He has showcased his works in over 30 exhibitions globally, with notable solo exhibitions held at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021 and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Peking University in Beijing in 2011. He has also participated in significant group exhibitions, including those at the Philadelphia Art Museum from 2022 to 2023 and the Brooklyn Museum in New York in 2019.

His paintings have been collected by major museums worldwide, including Brooklyn Museum, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Seattle Art Museum; Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C.; Arthur M Sackler Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; Arthur M Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, Peking University; Zhonghua Book Company, Beijing; Exhibition Gallery of Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Macau.
 

Biography

1968

  • Born in Yinchuan, Ningxia Province, China

1975-1979 

  • Studied Chinese calligraphy with Hu Gongshi (1912-1997) and Wang Wenjun (1940-) 

1987 

  • Studied Chinese classics and calligraphy under Feng Qiyong (1924-2017) 

1991-1996

  • Studied the mounting and restoration of ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting under Cui Yurun (1963-) and Li Zhenjiang (1956-)

1999-2001

  • Department of Digital Media, Media Design School, Auckland, New Zealand

2002

  • Artistic Director, hdtMEDIA, China

2003

  • Artistic Director, CCTV.com, China

2004

  • Founder and Executive Director, China Heritage Magazine

2006-2012

  • Ph.D., Department of Painting, Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

2018

  • Gave a speech at the Oxford China Forum "A New China", University of Oxford, United Kingdom

2022

  • Collaborated with Chinese fashion brand “Hemu'' to develop Spring/Summer Fashion Collection

2023

  • Gave an artist talk Ink Alchemy at Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2024

  • Lectured "Tai Xiangzhou: Reading History and Observing Paintings", Cultivation of 
  • Classics in the Golden Age: Exhibition of Chinese Paintings from Past Dynasties, China 
  • Millennium Monument, Beijing, China

Present

  • Lives and works in Beijing, China

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024-2025

  • Far Off Journey: Tribute to Mawangdui of Han Dynasty Paintings-Tai Xiangzhou Solo Exhibition, Hunan Museum, Changsha, China

2023

  • Kunlun Mountain: Tai Xiangzhou, Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, California, USA

2022

  • Cosmoscape of Galaxy, Huaixuan, Beijing, China

2021

  • Cosmoscapes: Ink Paintings by Tai Xiangzhou, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • Ocean: Ink Works by Tai Xiangzhou, Four Seasons Hotel, Macau
  • Tai Xiangzhou Solo Exhibition Shanghai Salon, Christie's Shanghai Art Space, Shanghai, China

2020  

  • Tai Xiangzhou: A Retroactive New World, Can Art Centre, Beijing, China

2018       

  • Tai Xiangzhou: Celestial Law, Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo, Japan

2017

  • Tai Xiangzhou: Speculative Cosmologies, Ink Studio, Beijing, China

2016

  • Celestial Tales, Yi&C Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan

2015 

  • Celestial Tales, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, New York, USA

2014

  • Knowing Heaven and Earth through Observation: Chinese Ink Paintings by Tai 
  • Xiangzhou, Exhibition Gallery of Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Macau

2013

  • Magnificence Within: New Ink Paintings by Tai Xiangzhou, Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, New York, USA

2012

  • Mind Without Discrimination, Plum Blossoms Gallery, Hong Kong 
  • Transcending Reality: New Ink Painting by Tai Xiangzhou, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, New York, USA

2011

  • Homocentric Objective: Landscape Paintings of Tai Xiangzhou, Arthur M. Sackler 
  • Museum of Art and Archaeology, Peking University, Beijing, China
  • Celestial Tales: Ink Paintings by Tai Xiangzhou, 798 Art Bridge Gallery, Beijing, China

          

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

2023

2022-2023

  • Oneness: Nature and Connectivity in Chinese Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

2022

  • The Magic of Zen: Celebration of Chinese Language Day, Secretariat Building, United Nations, New York, New York, USA

2020  

  • Self-entertain, Man Space, Beijing, China

2019

  • Foresights: Transformation between Tradition and Future, Guardian Art Centre, Beijing, China
  • Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition: Arts of China Gallery Reopening, Asian Galleries, Brooklyn Museum, New York, New York, USA
  • Permanent Collection, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
  • Landscapes of the Mind, Marquand Mather Court, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
  • Brushing Nature: Landscape Paintings, Ink Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong     
  • Yaozhou Porcelain of Shangshan Tang Collection, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • Chinese Literati Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
  • Permanent Collection, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • The Painted Screen: Tradition and Future, curated by Wu Hong, Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China
  • Everlasting Like the Heavens: The Cultures and Arts of the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang, Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing, China 

2018

    • Splendors of the Sun and Moon, Contemporary Art Exhibition of China, Museo Querini Stampalia Fondazione, Venice, Italy
    • 5th Neo-Moroism(2013-2018), Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
    • Intersection: International Art and Culture, Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, Peking University, Beijing, China
  • Ink Worlds: Contemporary Chinese Painting from the Collection of Akiko Yamazaki and 

2017

2016

  • Experimenting China in Peru: APEC “Human and Nature” Art Exhibition, Museo 
  • Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú, Lima, Peru
  • Asia Week New York, New York, USA
  • The 12th China International Gallery Exposition, China National Convention Centre, Beijing, China
  • Winter Lotus Garden: Nature in Contemporary Ink (Asia Week New York), The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, New York, USA

2015

  • Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami Beach Convention Centre, Miami, Florida, USA
  • Seattle Art Fair, CenturyLink Field Event Centre, Seattle, Washington, USA
  • The European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht Exhibition & Convention Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands
  • Shuimo: Ten Thousand Blossoms Spring, Sotheby’s S|2 Gallery, New York, New York, USA

2014

  • Neo-Mōrōism, Tokyo Gallery + Beijing Tokyo Art Projects, Beijing, China
  • Shuimo/Water Ink: Enchanted Landscapes, Sotheby’s S|2 Gallery, New York, New York, USA
  • Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
  • Meditations in Nature: New Ink, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong
  • As Above So Below: Exhibition of Contemporary Ink Art, The Fringe Club, Hong Kong
  • Asia Week 2014: Contemporary Chinese Ink, Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, New York, USA

2013

  • Picturing Heaven and Earth: Landscape paintings by Zhang Hong & Tai Xiangzhou
  • 798 Art Bridge Gallery, Beijing, China
  • Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
  • Shuimo/Water Ink: Chinese Contemporary Ink Painting, Sotheby’s S|2 Gallery, New York, New York, USA

2012

  • Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial, Sharjah Calligraphy Museum, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
  • The Chinese Scholar: Ink Painting and Artwork, Fuller Building, New York, New York, USA

2011

  • The Art of Writing: Contemporary Art from Three Cultures, Art Forum in der Kurhaus Kolonnade, Wiesbaden, Germany
  • Ink Paintings by Liu Dan, Zeng Xiaojun & Tai Xiangzhou, Chinese Porcelain Company, 
  • New York, New York, USA

2010 

  • I Call the Shots of My Youth: “Giant Cup” Today National Art Students Annual Awards 
  • 2010, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
  • All About Paper, China Folk Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2009

  • From Nature to Mind, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
  • Ink Play: The 2nd Young Chinese and Korean Artists Exchange Exhibition, Korean 
  • Cultural Service in China, Beijing, China


Selected Awards

1986

  • First Prize, National Calligraphy Competition by University Students, China

1989

  • Second Prize, Beijing Calligraphy Competition by University Students, China

2001

  • “Highly Commended in Innovation”, Prize of the Industrial Panel Award, Media Design School, Auckland, New Zealand

2010

  • Excellence Award, “Giant Cup” Today National Art Students Annual Awards 2010, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

 

Selected Collections

  • Brooklyn Museum, New York, New York, USA
  • Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA
  • Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
  • The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C., USA
  • Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
  • Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
  • Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
  • Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
  • Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
  • Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States
  • Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, Peking University, Beijing, China
  • Zhonghua Book Company, Beijing, China
  • Temporary Exhibition Gallery of Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Macau
  • Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing, China
  • Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
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