Xie Xiaoze

1966
Guangdong , China
Xie Xiaoze is a Chinese diaspora known for his photo-realist paintings and long-term investigative projects on books, manuscripts and cultural history. Born in rural China, Xie was profoundly influenced by early memories of his father, a school principal, being forced to collect books for destruction during the Cultural Revolution. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from Tsinghua University in Beijing in 1988, and a Master of Arts from Central Academy of Arts and Design in Beijing in 1991. He then moved to the United States in 1993 and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Texas. He now serves as the Paul L. & Phyllis Wattis Professor of Art at Stanford University. He splits his time between Beijing and Palo Alto, California.

Xie has exhibited widely, with solo exhibitions at Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen, China; Asia Society, New York; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona; Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee, the US; Modern Chinese Art Foundation, Ghent, Belgium; and the China Art Archives and Warehouse, Beijing. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including Shu: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art at the China Institute Gallery in New York and Seattle Asian Art Museum, and the traveling exhibition Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US at eight universities across USA. Xie’s work has been collected by many major American institutions, including Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Texas; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona; San Jose Museum of Art, California; Oakland Museum of California; Boise Art Museum, Idaho; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Ohio; and the Arizona State University Art Museum. Among other honours, Xie has received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant (2013) and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2003).


BIOGRAPHY

1966  Born in Guangdong, China

1988 Bachelor of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

1991 Master of Arts, Central Academy of Arts and Design, Beijing, China

1991-1992  Assistant Professor, Shantou University, Guangdong, China

1996  Master of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

1996-1997  Visiting Artist, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, USA

1999-2005  Assistant Professor, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

2002   Commissioned by U.S. General Services Administration's Art-in-Architecture Program, Federal Building and U. S. Courthouse, Davenport, Iowa, USA

2004-2006  Co-curator of Misleading Trails travelled to six universities around USA

Co-curator of Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US travelled to nine  universities around USA

2006-2009  Associate Professor, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

2007-2009  Chair, Department of Art & Art History, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

2009-  Paul L. & Phyllis Wattis Professor in Art, Department of Art & Art History, Stanford University, California, USA

Present  Lives and works in Palo Alto, California and Beijing, China

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025
Xie Xiaoze: The Archaeology of Knowledge, Alisan Atelier, Hong Kong
Ashes of Memory, Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
Amber of History: Reimagining the Library Cave at Dunhuang, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

2022                    
Flammable Ideas, Fragile Objects, East Asia Library, Stanford University,  Stanford, California, USA

Heretical Knowledge, C.V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

Panorama of Eternal Night, Anglim/Trimble Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA

Library Paintings, Art Basel Online Viewing Room, USA

2021                    
New Paintings from the Library Series, online exhibition, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2020
Out of the Dark, online exhibition, Department of Art & Art History, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

2019                    
Objects of Evidence, Asia Society, New York, USA

2018                    
Confrontation and Disruption, Stanford in Washington Art Gallery, Washington DC, USA

2017                    
Eyes On, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, USA
Nocturnes, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA 

2016                    
Xiaoze Xie: Albums, Prints and Photographs
, Stanford Art Gallery, California, USA

2015                    
Subtexts, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

Libraries, Moatti Masters/Contemporary, London, UK

2012                    
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California, USA

Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2011                    
Resistant Archeology, Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA

Transient Memories, Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, USA  

Theatre of Power, Mesaros Galleries, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

2010-2012          
Amplified Moments (1993-2008), Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee; Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon; Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, Maine, USA

2010                   
Gaain Gallery, Seoul, Korea

Rhythm of Time, Corridor of Memory: A Site-specific Installation by Xie Xiaoze, Mada s.p.a.m. Architectural Studio Office, Shanghai, China

Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California, USA

2009                    
Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2008                    
Quotidian Truths, Morono Kiang Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA

Both Sides Now, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA

2007                    
Xiaoze Xie: Photographs, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, USA

Disposable Views, Waterworks Visual Arts Centre, Salisbury, North Carolina, USA

Legacy, Gaain Gallery, Seoul, Korea

Transient Memories: Works on Paper by Xie Xiaoze, dARTex, Danish Cultural Centre, Beijing, China

Xiaoze Xie: Works on Paper, Modern Chinese Art Foundation, Ghent, Belgium

2006                    
The MoMA Library, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, USA

2005                    
Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2003                    
History: A Microscopic View, China Art Archives and Warehouse, Beijing, China

Davidson Galleries, Seattle, Washington, USA

2002                    
Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, USA

2000                    
Order: An Installation and Paintings by Xiaoze Xie, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

1998                    
Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA

1997                    
Davidson Galleries, Seattle, Washington, USA

1996                    
Puppet, New Talent Gallery, Irving Arts Centre, Irving, Texas, USA

The Library Paintings, Gallery 414, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

1995                    
Mosaics Series, Dallas Visual Art Centre, Dallas, Texas, USA

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025  
Village Retreat :Philosophical Thoughts and Expression, After Hill Art Centre, Guangzhou, China               
ART SG, Alisan Fine Arts, Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

2022-2023          
Wuhan Biennale, Wuhan Art Museum; Qintai Art Museum; He Art Museum Wuhan, China

After Hope: Videos of Resistance, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA

2020-2021          
Future History 2020, Art Museum of School of Fine Arts, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China

2020                   
Art Monthly 45th Anniversary Cover Project Exhibition, Art Museum of Nanjing University of Arts, Nanjing, China

Where the Heart Is: Contemporary Art by Immigrant Artists, Palo Alto Art Centre, Palo Alto, California, USA

2019-2020          
Aliens: An Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Art in The San Francisco Bay Area, Gallery Elite, Carmel, California, USA

2nd Sculpture Projects Ping Yao, Ping Yao, China

2019                    
Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, Shenzhen, China                                                                    
Global Conversations: Contemporary World in Dialogue, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA

Ink at Current: 10th International Ink Art Biennial of Shenzhen, Shenzhen Fine Art Institute; OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China

On Paper: Collaborations in Print and Pulp from Wildwood Press, Walton Arts Centre, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA

IN INK: Current Trends of Ink Art, Nan Hai Gallery, Millbrae, California, USA

Napoleon Special Exhibition, Dialogue between Contemporary and Tradition, Himalayas Art Museum, Shanghai, China

Future Progress: Invitational Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, 6th Guangzhou Triennial, Zini Town of Art, Guangzhou, China                    

Framework: Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, the College of Art, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China

2018                    
Industry 4.0: Power of Transformation, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China

Chen Jing: Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition, No. 1 Wanjiang Art Museum, Dongguan, Guangdong, China

Visual Anthology: Artworks & the Book, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA

2017                    
Vision and Voice, Art Ark Gallery, San Jose, California, USA

Anren Biennale, Chengdu, China

2016                    
Fragmentary Narratives, Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

Seattle Art Fair, Seattle, USA

Dallas Art Fair, Dallas, USA

2015                    
Liberating the Past from the Present: Contemporary Art in China, Shengzhi Space, Beijing, China; Modern Art Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia 

What can California art be?, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California, USA

Fragmentary Narratives, Changsha City Museum, Changsha, China 

A Record of Architectural Transformation, 9th Songzhuang Culture and Art Festival 2015 Theme Exhibition, G-Dot Art Space, Beijing, China

2014                    
1st China Xinjiang International Arts Biennale, Urumqi International Exhibition Centre, Urumqi, China

Beyond Architecture, Long Art Museum, Shanghai; Times Cultural Complex Art Centre, Guangzhou, China

Now Read This: Contemporary Art from the Collection of Driek and Michael Zirinsky, Idaho Centre for the Bok, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA

Deep Reading, Euphrat Museum of Art, De Anza College, Cupertino, California, USA

Mirrored and Obscured: Contemporary Texas Self-Portraits, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas, USA

Chroma, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

Yuan Unfu & Tsinghua Fine Art Group, East Exhibition Hall, National Centre for Performing Arts, Beijing, China

CVAD Alumni Showcase, UNT ArtSpace Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA

2013                    
Zero State: 2013, 1st Biennale of Installation Art in China, Museum of Contemporary Art; Xiangshan Art Museum, Beijing, Tianjin Art Museum, Tianjin, China

The Awakening of Intuition, 13th China Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, Shanxi, China

Living Legacies: The JSMA@80, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA

Mark My Word, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, USA          

ac·qui·si·tions: A Selection from the Past Decade, The Old Jail Art Center, Albany, Texas, USA 

We: 1994-2013 The 20th Anniversary Collective Exhibition of Chinese Song Zhuang  Artists, Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing, China

Lies that Tell the Truth: Magic Realism in Contemporary Art, University Art Gallery, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, USA          

War & Healing, Euphrat Museum of Art, De Anza College, Cupertino, California, USA

The Moment for Ink: Documenting the History of Ink Painting in America, Asian Art  Museum of San Francisco; Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco; San Francisco State University; Silicon Valley Asian Art Center, California, USA

2012                    
Aspects of a New Realism, Roger Arthur Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

2011-2012          
Across the Divide, Crossman Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; Courtyard Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, USA

Library Science, Artspace, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

2011                    
Book-ish, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, USA

I Believe – Chinese Contemporary Art in Songzhuang, Song Zhuang Art Center; Shang Shang Art Museum, Beijing, China

2010                    
Re-Present: Pat Boas, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA 

Memory, Well Art, Shanghai, China

The Message and the Medium: The Library Turns 10, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California, USA

2009-2010          
Something Geographical, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago; South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, Illinois, USA

2009                    
1st Chongqing Biennale for the Young Artists, Chongqing International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Chongqing, China

China Urban: Exploring the Historical and Contemporary Chinese City, Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, USA

2008 
Absurd Recreation: Contemporary Art from China, Sweeney Art Gallery, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California, USA

2007                    
Just Words, Morono Kiang Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA

What We Keep: An Exhibition on Books and Memory, Sun Valley Center for Arts, Sun Valley, Idaho, USA

Between Reality and Illusion, Marty Walker Gallery, Dallas, Texas, USA

2006-2008          
Shu: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art, Curated by Wu Hung, China Institute Gallery, New York; Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle; Honolulu Academy of  Arts, Honolulu, USA

2006                    
What War?, White Box, New York, USA

Why Lee Shot C: Buzz, she left 'em Vernon!, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA

2005-2006          
The Daily News, Salt Lake Art Center, Utah; Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, Wyoming; Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho, USA

2004-2006          
Misleading Trails, China Art Archives and Warehouse, Beijing, China; NIU Art Museum, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb; University of North Texas Art Gallery, Denton; Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem; Vanderbilt University Art Gallery, Nashville; Boyden Gallery, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City; Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, USA

Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg; David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University,  Providence; Slusser Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles; University of California San Diego Art Gallery, San Diego; Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown; Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, USA

2004                    
Texas Vision: The Barrett Collection, Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA

2003                    
The Great Drawing Show 1550-2003, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA

Cross the Divide, Max L. Gatov and Werby Art Galleries, California State University, Long Beach, California, USA

2001                    
Sally Packard and Xiaoze Xie, Art League Houston, Houston, Texas; Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, USA

2000                    
Exhibition of Guangdong Contemporary Oil Paintings, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China

Recipients of 1999 Arizona Artists Materials Fund Grants, Contemporary Forum, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona; Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, USA

Rosalyn Richards & Xiaoze Xie, Bucknell University Art Gallery, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

1999                    
West Looks East, Lew Allen Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

1998                    
Building for the Millennium: Recent Acquisitions, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

1997                    
George Segal and Xiaoze Xie, Bruce Gallery, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania,Edinboro, Pennsylvania, USA

1996                    
1st Texas Annual, Contemporary Art Centre of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

1995                    
Scott Barber and Xiaoze Xie, 500X Gallery, Dallas, Texas, USA

McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, USA

1994                    
Unity and Diversity, Cora Stafford Gallery, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

1993                    
Centre for the Visual Arts, Denton, Texas, USA

1991                    
Four Young Artists, Shantou Painting Institute, Guangdong, China

 

SELECTED AWARDS

2022  Asia Game Changer West Award, Asia Society Northern California, USA

2016  Academic Award in Painting, 3rd Nanjing International Art Festival, Nanjing, China

2013  Painters & Sculptors Grant, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, USA

2008  The National Endowment for the Humanities Chair in Humanities, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania (three-year appointment), USA

Interpreting Brooklyn Project Grant, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn, New York, USA

2003  Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, USA

2001  Lindback Minority Junior Faculty Grant, Christian R. & Mary F. Lindback Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1995  First Place, Voertman Art Exhibition, University of North Texas Art Gallery, Denton, Texas, USA

1994  First Place, Greater Denton Arts Council Award, 26th Annual Juried Fine Arts Awards Exhibit of North Texas Area Art League, Centre for the Visual Arts, Denton, Texas, USA

 

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, USA

Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas, USA

Bates College Museum of Art, Maine, USA

Bucknell University Samek Art Gallery, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Eastfield College, Dallas, Texas, USA

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA

Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, Washington, USA

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA

 Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, California, USA

San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, USA

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

Seattle University, Seattle, Washington, USA

The JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York, USA

The Old Jail Art Center, Albany, Texas, USA

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