Wang Tiande
Introduction
Wang Tiande is an innovative avant-garde ink artist known for his creative use of incense sticks as a form of brush. Born in Shanghai in 1960, he studied at the College of Art in Shanghai in 1981, before pursuing further studies at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. After graduating in 1988 with a degree in traditional Chinese painting, he went on to obtain a Ph.D. in calligraphy in 2010 from the same academy. Well versed in traditional Chinese art and culture, Wang searches for further possibilities in the realm of ink art. His most ground-breaking creation, Chinese ink with burn marks on layered rice paper and the use of incense sticks in lieu of brushes to paint, transforms paintings of traditional landscapes and calligraphy while conveying the ephemeral quality of painting. He first gained international recognition when his work, Ink Banquet, produced in 1996, was exhibited as part of Inside Out: New Chinese Art, a travelling exhibition curated by Gao Minglu. This work was subsequently collected by the Hong Kong Museum of Art. More recently, his work was included in the exhibition Summoning Memories: Art Beyond Chinese Traditions at Asia Society Texas.
Alisan Fine Arts began representing Wang in 1999, and organised his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong in 2003, titled Wang Tiande: Ink for the 21st Century. Since then the gallery has held three further solo exhibitions for him in 2007, Wang Tiande: Landscape Transformations, in 2014, Mountainscapes: New Ink Art By Wang Tiande, and in 2018 AWAITING New Works by Wang Tiande. Wang has participated in two group exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as part of Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing in 2006, and the seminal exhibition Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China in 2014. In recent years, in addition to holding significant solo exhibitions at Suzhou Museum and Guangdong Museum of Art, Wang became one of the few living contemporary artists to have a solo exhibition at Palace Museum in Beijing in 2015.
His works are also in the collections of British Museum, London; Cernuschi Museum, Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver; Chinese Painting Research Institute, Beijing; Zhong Nan Hai, Beijing; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou; Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen; Hong Kong Museum of Art; JP Morgan Bank, Hong Kong.
BIOGRAPHY
1960 Born in Shanghai, China
1981 Graduated from Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, China
1988 Graduated from Chinese Painting Department, Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art), Hangzhou, China
1988-2002 Associate Professor, Art Education Centre, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Member of Chinese Artists Association, China
2003 Professor, Art Education Centre, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Dean of School of Communication Design, Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
2010 Ph.D in Calligraphy, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
2021 Listed in Chinese Ink Art Year Book 2020, Culture and Art Publisher, Beijing, China
2022 Collaborated with Wu Changshuo Memorial Hall in Shanghai, rejuvenating an old well of Qing Dynasty
2023 Lectured at Stanford University Learning and Knowledge Centre, as the Stanford Chinese Faculty & Family Club Seminar
2024 Judging panel of John Moores Painting Prize (China)
Interviewed by Forbes China, Shanghai, China
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
- Afterwards: Wang Tiande Art Exhibition, Xu Wei Art Museum, Shaoxing, China
- Hills, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, China
- Wang Tiande: Three Floors, WS Space, Shanghai, China
- AWAITING New Works by Wang Tiande, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
- From the Canglang Pavilion, Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, Suzhou, China
- Over Mountains and Across Valleys, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
- Wang Tiande Art Exhibition, The Palace Museum, Garden of the Palace of Established Happiness, Beijing, China
- Conversation, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Conversation, Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China
- Mountainscapes: New Ink Art by Wang Tiande, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
- Kai Men, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Hou Shan, Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China
- Gu Shan, Sanshang Art, Hangzhou, China
- Boat, Galerie 99, Aschaffenburg, Germany
- Shuang Shuang, University of Sidney, Sidney, Australia
- Up/Down: Wang Tiande Art Project, Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas University, Kansas, USA
- Xerxes Fine Arts, London, UK
- Made by Wang Tiande II, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
- Wang Tiande, Landscape Transformations, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
- Redolent of Incense, Yishu Space Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
- Galerie 99, Aschaffenburg, Germany
1996
- Fudan University Museum, Shanghai, China
- The German Centre, Shanghai, China
- Chinese Painting Institute, Shanghai, China
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024-2025
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The Journey of Ink: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Paintings from the Musée Cernuschi, Bund One Art Museum, Shanghai, China (Until Jan 5, 2025)
2024
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1985-2024: Forty Years of Contemporary Ink in China, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, China
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Themes and Variations, Alisan Fine Arts-New York Gallery, New York, USA
- Black And White And Everything In Between: A Monochrome Journey, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
- Presene and Absence: Chinese Ink Expressional Painting as the Component of Ink Art, China Guardian, beijing, China
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Contemporary Logic of a Pure and Remote View, Wuhan Art Museum (Qintai), Wuhan, China
- The Evolutionary Trace of the Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
2023-2024
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East and West 2023: Chinese Contemporary Art Academic Research Exhibition, China Art Museum Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2023
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Art021, Alisan Fine Arts, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China
- Tree and Stone, Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, Shanghai, China
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Beyond Tradition: The Metamorphosis of Chinese Art, Alisan Fine Arts, Cromwell Place, London, UK
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Ink Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
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Chengdu Biennale: Time Gravity, Chengdu Art Museum, Chengdu, China
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New Calligraphy for the Times: 20th Anniversary of Modern Calligraphy Research Centre of China Academy of Art, Yuan Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
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Thinking with the Senses: Inaugural, Dacheng Art Museum, Changzhou, China
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Kunming Art Biennale: Writing and Boundary, Yunnan Art Museum, Kunming, China
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Summoning Memories: Art Beyond Chinese Traditions, Asia Society Texas, Houston, USA
2022-2023
- By the People: Creative Chinese Characters, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
2022
- 1st Art HK: Tradition and Modernity, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
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Contemporary Chinese Art, Asian Art in London, Alisan Fine Arts, Cromwell Place, London, UK
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Asia Now - Paris Asian Art Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France
- Landscapes Through Time, Fine Art Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
- Paintng with Ink - Confront the Scenery: 7th Contemporary Ink Art Research Exhibition, Wuhan Art Museum, China
- 2nd Exhibition of Chinese Ink Art Year Book 2020, An Art Museum, Beijing, China
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Beyond Ink, Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, USA
- Ancient, Modern To and Fro, Jiangshu Museum of Modern Art, Nanjing, China
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Ink Dreams: Selections from the Fondation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
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Dreaming Together: Asia Society’s Triennial, New York Historical Society, New York, USA
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Dress Up: Invitational Exhibition of Chinese Traditional Crafts, Being Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- NOT A Fashion Store!, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
- Ink Sky: Exhibition of Chinese Ink Art Year Book 2020, An Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Brushless, Alisan Fine Arts-Aberdeen, Hong Kong
- New HaiPai Ink Art Exhibition, T-art, Shanghai, China
- The File: The Formation of Cycle, 5th Anniversary of Chinese Contemporary Art Review, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, China
- Art 021 Platform, online viewing room, Alisan Fine Arts, Shanghai, China
- Ink Painting Ongoing 2000-2019, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
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Shanghai Waves Historical Archives and Works of Shanghai Biennial, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China
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Arts of China: New Acquisitions, Asian Galleries, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
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Ink at Current: 10th International Ink Art Biennial of Shenzhen, OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China
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Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
- 1st Taipei Dangdai, Alisan Fine Arts, Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Taipei, Taiwan
- Inquiry on Water: Exhibition & International Symposium, Suning Art Museum, Shanghai, China
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Ink Worlds: Contemporary Chinese Painting from the Collection of Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang, The Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA
- Art 021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China
- Crisscrossing East and West: The remarking of Ink Art in Contemporary East Asia, MOCA Yinchuan, Ningxia, China
- Contemporary Landscapes: From Modern Classics to the New Vanguard, Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Oriental Charm: Ink Art in Shanghai and Hong Kong 2016, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai; Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong - Alisan Fine Arts: Celebrating 35 Years of Promoting Chinese Contemporary Art, Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong
- Ink Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
- Writing Non-writing, Art Museum of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
- Tracing the Brush, Transformed Text, Ink Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
- Within & Without, Museum of Stanford University, California, USA
- Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
- Art Basel in Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
- Chinese Modern Art Exhibition, British Museum, London, UK
- International Ink Exhibition, Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Red Flag: Contemporary Chinese Art in Montreal Collection, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada
- Word: China Mainland Contemporary Art Exhibition, Huashan1914 Creative Park, Taipei, Taiwan
- Fei Du, Xunyao Chinese Characters Art & Culture Museum, Chengdu, China
- Papercut: Exhibition of Sino-German Contemporary Art, South Bund Art Space, Shanghai, China
- Different Ink Art, Shangdong Contemporary Art Centre, Nanjing, China
- Create Something Out of Nothing, Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong
- ART HK 10, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
- New Ink, Mingyuan Art Center, Shanghai, China
- Memories of the Past: Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting, Art Museum of Transylvania University, Kentucky, USA
- Hong Kong International Arts & Antiques Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Centre, Hong Kong
- Yi Pai: Contemporary Chinese Art, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Contemporary Ink Art: Evolution, Harvard University, Boston, USA
- 2nd Modern Ink Biennial, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
- Ink Not Ink: Contemporary Chinese Art, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA; Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
- Contemporary Ink Art: Evolution, Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China; Raab Galerie, Berlin, Germany
- Yi Pai: Chinese Abstract Art 30 Years, La Caixa Forum, Barcelona, Spain
- Transforming Marks of Ink, Staatiche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Germany
- New Vision of China 2008, Modern and Contemporary Art Center of La Spezia, La Spezia, Italy
- New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond, Curated by Alice King, Founder of Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
- China Onward: The Estella Collection: Chinese Contemporary Art 1966-2006, Louisiana Museum, Louisiana, USA
- FUN, Taipei Calligraphy Biennial, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
- China New Vision: Chinese Contemporary Art Collection, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- International Exhibition of Art & Calligraphy, Seoul Art Centre, Seoul, Korea
- Light on China Art Generation, Palazzo Capponi, Florence, Italy
- Exhibition of Chinese Painting Documentaries, Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing, China
- Revival: New Ink Art, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
- China Trade, International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Vancouver, Canada
- DU, Expressions of Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting, Art Museum of Tianjin Academy of Art, Tianjin, China
- 60’s Vision Documenta, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
- Calligraphy Scene, Heng Lu Museum of Art, Hangzhou, China
- International Exhibition of Art & Calligraphy, Seoul Art Centre, Seoul, Korea
- Light on China Art Generation, Palazzo Capponi, Florence, Italy
- Exhibition of Chinese Painting Documentaries, Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing, China
- Revival: New Ink Art, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
- China Trade, International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Vancouver, Canada
- DU, Expressions of Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting, Art Museum of Tianjin Academy of Art, Tianjin, China
- 60’s Vision Documenta, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
- 2nd Chengdu Biennial, Chengdu Museum of Modern Art, Sichuan, China
- Present for Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
- Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting in China and Korea, Seoul Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
- The Act of Writing and Non-writing: The Open Space for Chinese Calligraphy, International Exhibition of Art Rising, Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, Canada
- Dream of Dragon, Contemporary Chinese Art, Dublin Contemporary Art Museum, Dublin, Ireland
- Contemporary Art from Shanghai, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
- Exhibition by Six Artists, Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, Germany
- 4th International Biennial of Ink Painting, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
- Nomination Exhibition, Art Museum of Hubei Academy of Art, Wuhan, China
- An Opening Era, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
- White East: 20th Century Chinese Paintings, Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris, France
- Dots and Beyond, Malaysia National Art Museum, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 3rd Biennial International Ink Painting, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
- Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
- 0 Material, Central Academy of Art, Beijing, China
- New Ink Paintings, Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
- East + West: Contemporary Chinese Art, Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna, Austria
- Ink Colour, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
- 20 Years of Experimental Ink Paintings, Guandong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
- 32nd Düsseldorf International Art Exhibition, Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Annual Nomination Exhibition, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China
- Chinese Feeling, Siwei Commercial Centre, Changsha, China
- Reshuffling, Shenzhen Sculpture Institute, Shenzhen, China
- Exhibition of Abstract Ink, Xi’an International Exhibition Centre, Xi’an, China
- Gallery Artists: Gu Wenda, Wang Tiande, Li Shan, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
- Neo-Ink Paintings in China 2000, Liu Haisu Museum of Art, Shanghai; Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing, China
- 2nd International Biennial of Ink Painting, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
- Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- Inside Out: New Chinese Art, PS1, New York; Tacoma Art Museum, Washington; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, USA; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Monterrey, Mexico; Canberra National Art Museum, Australia; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
- 1st International Biennial of Ink Painting, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
- Looking Back on Chang’an: Invitational Exhibition of Modern Ink Painting Collection, Shanxi Art Museum, Xi’an, China
- Tension and Expression, Ink Painting Exhibition, Art Gallery of Crown Plaza Hotel, Beijing, China
- Ink Painting Show, Grand Exhibition of Chinese Art, Shanghai Library, Shanghai, China
- Sculpture '97, Nanshan Sculpture Institute, Shenzhen, China
- Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Artists’ Works, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
- Exhibition of Shanghai Artists’ Works, Gallery of St Petersburg Artists Association, St Petersburg, Russia
- Shanghai Ink Painting, Art Museum of Arizona University, Tucson, USA
- Homeland Revisited: Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Experimental Ink Works, Gallery on the Rim, San Francisco, USA
- Contemporary Chinese Ink Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
- Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Painting from Shanghai Art Museum Collection, Hamburg Art Museum, Hamburg, Germany
- Contemporary Chinese Art, Lineart International Art Fair, Ghent, Belgium
- 8th National Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
- 1st National Chinese Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
- 1st National Chinese Landscape Painting Exhibition, Anhui Art Museum, Hefei, China
- 4th Shanghai Young Artists Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Modern Art, Yokohama Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
- Shanghai-Taipei Modern Chinese Ink Painting, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- Sea Horizon of Paintings and Sculptures, Liu Haisu Museum of Art, Shanghai, China
- Works by Four Artists, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- 7th National Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
British Museum, London, UK
Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, USA
Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas University, Kansas, USA
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Wahshington DC, USA
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada
Chinese Painting Research Institute, Beijing, China
Zhong Nan Hai, Beijing, China
Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
JP Morgan Bank