Pan Caoyuan is a multidisciplinary artist based in Zhejiang, China, whose practice spans lacquer painting, sculpture, and installation. Working primarily with natural lacquer, she draws on the rich tradition of Chinese lacquer craftsmanship while exploring the material’s inherent unpredictability and continual “state of becoming.” Pan regards this ancient medium as a bridge to the world of the past, allowing material, time, and natural processes to become active participants in her work. Incorporating elements of physicality and temporality, her practice seeks to reconstruct ritualistic experiences and re-enchant perception, reflecting on the cosmology and spirituality of the pre-modern world. Her work also draws inspiration from cultural phenomena often excluded from canonical art history. Through recurring themes of craft, ornamentation, and fetishism, she examines dominant cultural hierarchies and systems of value.
Pan received her BA and MA from the China Academy of Art and is currently pursuing a PhD at Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts while teaching at Shaoxing University. She is the recipient of the Gold Award at the Qiao Shiguang Lacquer Painting Art Innovation Award at Tsinghua University.
Recent exhibitions include ShangART WB Central, Shanghai (2025); Zhejiang Exhibition Hall, Hangzhou (2025); Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan (2024); MACA Art Center, Beijing (2024); Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou (2024); China Academy of Art Museum, Hangzhou (2024); Today Art Museum, Beijing (2023); National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2021); Shandong Art Museum, Jinan (2021); and China Port Museum, Ningbo (2021). Pan's work is currently on view at Thucydides Fever Dream, Hill Art Foundation, New York (until Dec 19, 2026).
Her works are held in the collections of several museums, including Harvard Art Museums in the United States; Museum für Lackkunst in Germany; National Art Museum of China in Beijing; Fujian Art Museum; Hubei Museum of Art; China Port Museum in Ningbo, China.
