For many artists, the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and the subsequent purges signaled the end of inquiry into an exchange with the West. However, Yang Jiechang was fortunate enough to spend his time learning classical Chinese from reviewing ancient texts and distinguishing between fragrant flowers and poisonous plants as a member of the Red Guard. Yang Jiechang was born in 1956 in Foshan, Guangdong. After graduating from high school, he began studying Chinese ink painting and calligraphy at the Foshan Folk Art Institute in Guangdong. in 1978, he attended the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts where he was exposed to Western art through a lecture series given by Joan Lebold Cohen (the noted Chinese art historian and curator) and Taiwanese art magazines. After graduating in 1982, Yang stayed at the academy as a teacher and also engaged in long-term research on Chinese art history under Professor Chen Shaofeng (1923-1997). In 1989, he was chosen to participate in Magiciens de la Terre, at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. At the event, he created his large-scale “Hundred Layers of Ink” series which caused quite the stir in the international art scene. The paintings from this series are the result of focused repetition, and Yang applied ink to the same piece each day, every day until the paper became completely saturated. Since then, Yang has lived and worked in Paris in France and Heidelberg in Germany, and has participated in numerous biennials around the globe, including Venice Biennial, Lyon Biennial, Liverpool Biennial, Gwangju Biennial, Shanghai Biennial, Chengdu Biennale, Wuhan Ink Biennale, Guangzhou Triennale and Shenzhen Ink Biennial. His artistic style, materials, and inspirations are diverse, encompassing various art mediums such as painting, calligraphy, ceramics, installations, performance art, and video.
Yang's solo exhibitions in museums have taken place at prestigious venues such as Guimet Museum; Galerie de Sèvres, Paris; Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum; Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai; OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen. Currently his monumental "Hundred Layers of Ink" is on view at the Museum: Modern and Contemporary Collection, Centre Pompidou, Paris and Focus Gallery, M+, Hong Kong; and work from the "Tale of the 11th Day" series is also on show at M+ as part of the exhibition Shanshui: Echoes and Signals. In recent years, other significant group exhibitions that he participated in include A Blueprint for Ruins, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2023-2024; Ink in Motion: A History of Chinese Painting in the 20th Century, Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France 2022-2023; Ethnological Collections and Asian Art, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany, 2021-2022; Ink Dreams: Selections from the Fondation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA, 2021; Ink City, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong, 2021; Arts of China, Arts of Asia Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA, 2019; Ink Worlds: Contemporary Chinese Painting from the Collection of Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang, The Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA, 2018; Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA, 2013-2014.
As part of Le French May, Alice King guest curated his solo exhibition at the Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Hong Kong in 2001, and again in 2015 as part of Le French May, Alisan Fine Arts held an exhibition at the Hong Kong Central Library for the artist, documenting his artistic career. In 2017, we had his solo exhibition at Alisan Central and included his works in Art Basel Hong Kong, Art021 Shanghai and Asia Now in Paris.
Yang's works have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Rockefeller Foundation, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Berkeley Art Museum, California, USA; Contemporary Art Foundation of the French Cultural Centre, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France; Ullens Foundation, Switzerland; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan; Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyongju, South Korea; Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China; Yageo Art Foundation, Taiwan; Hong Kong Museum of Art; M+, Hong Kong; University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, to name a few.
BIOGRAPHY
1956 Born Foshan, Guangdong, China
1974 – 1978 Studied paper mounting, folk art, calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting at the Foshan Folk Art Institute, Foshan, Guangdong, China
1978 – 1982 Studied traditional Chinese painting at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China
1982 – 1989 Taught at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China
Engaged in long-term research on Chinese art history under Professor Chen Shaofeng (1923-1997)
1984 – 1986 Studied Daosim with Master Huangtao at Mount Luofu, Guangzhou and studied Zen Buddhism at Guangxiao Temple, Guangzhou, China
1989 Moved to Europe to live and work in Paris, France and Heidelberg, Germany
1992 – 1993 Fellowship, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, USA
2003 Residency at the Kunst Werke in Berlin, sponsored by French AFAA and German government
2005 Visiting artist at Stanford University (February)
2008 Sterling visiting scholar at the Stanford University Medical School, Department of Chemical and Systems Biology
2016 Documentary film “Yang Jiechang’s Gu and Qi,” in the series "The Enduring Passion of Ink", directed and produced by Britta Erickson and filmed by Richard Widmer
2021 Listed in Chinese Ink Art Year Book 2020, Culture and Art Publisher, Beijing, China
Present Lives and works in Paris, France and Heidelberg, Germany
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024-2025
2024
2022
2021
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2005
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1986
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Shanshui: Echoes and Signals, M+, Hong Kong
The Writings of Today are a Promise for Tomorrow, Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Museum: Modern and Contemporary Collection, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2024
2023-2024
Delight in the Invisible: Abstract Narrative of Momentary, Ming Yuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2023
Chengdu Biennale: Time Gravity, Chengdu Art Museum, Chengdu, China
2022-2023
Ink in Motion: A History of Chinese Painting in the 20th Century, Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France
2022
Asia Now - Paris Asian Art Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France
Beyond Ink, Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, USA
2021-2022
Ethnological Collections and Asian Art, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany
2021
Ink Dreams: Selections from the Fondation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
2020
Waves and Echoes: A Process of Re-contemporarization in Chinese Art Circa 1987 Revisited, Inside-out Art Museum, Beijing, China
2019
2018
Beyond Ink: 20th China Shanghai International Arts Festival Program, China Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Ink Worlds: Contemporary Chinese Painting from the Collection of Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang, The Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013-2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
Rockefeller Foundation, New York, USA
Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, USA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
Contemporary Art Foundation of the French Cultural Centre, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France
French Television Channel Canal +, France
François Pinault Foundation, France
Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany
Lausanne Museum, Switzerland
Ullens Foundation, Switzerland
White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyongju, South Korea
Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Yageo Art Foundation, Taiwan
Eslite Inc., Taiwan
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
M+, Hong Kong
