Yang Jiechang

1956

Foshan , China

For many artists, the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and the subsequent purges signaled the end of inquiry into and 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 work from the "Tale of the 11th Day" series is on show in M+ as part of an 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, Art 021 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

Yang Jiechang: The Last Tree, Le French May Arts Festival Associated Exhibition, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2022

Carte Blanche à Yang Jiechang, Guimet Museum, Paris, France

2021

Yang Jiechang: Tale of the 11th Day, Galerie de Sèvres, Paris, France

2019

3 Souls 7 Spirits, Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
From Heaven to Hell, Beyond Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
Yang Jiechang, Taipei Dangdai, Nangang Exhibition Centre, Taipei, Taiwan

2018

Six Two Zen, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Seed Garden, Boxes Art Museum, Foshan, China

2017

This is still Bird and Flower Painting, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
Mustard Seed Garden: Mayland Lake, Art House, Guangzhou, China
Earth Roots, Ink Studio, Beijing, China
Yang Jiechang:The Whip, Chamber Fine Arts, New York, USA

2016

Yang Jiechang: I Often Do Bad Things, Phoenixhallen/Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany

2015

2014

Yang Jiechang: This is Still Landscape Painting, Ink Studio, Beijing, China

2012

Tale of the 11th Day, OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China

2011

Stranger than Paradise, La Criée, Centre d’art Contemporain, Rennes, France

2010

Underground Flowers, Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de Rouen, Festival Automne en Normandie, Rouen, France

2009

On Ascension, Galerie Jaeger Bucher, Paris, France
Territoria, special project, Associazione Culturale Cantiere d’Arte Alberto Moretti-Galleria Schema, Prato, Italy

2008

No – Shadow Kick, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
Venice Biennial, Tibetan Pavilion, Edicola Notte, Rome, Italy
In God We Trust, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, California, USA

2007

The Most Beautiful Country of China, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong

2005

Hei Ji Sheng Xiang, Shenzhen Painting Institute, Shenzhen, China
Who Occupies the Space?, Isola Art Center, Milan, Italy

2003

Lookchat, Centre A, Vancouver, Canada
For Emily, 4A Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2002

Der längste Tag, Kunstverein Nürtingen, Nürtingen, Germany

2001

Enlightened Blackness: Ink Paintings by Yang Jiechang, Le French May, curated by Alice King, University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong; Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2000

You - Double View, Project Room, ARCO 2000, Madrid, Spain

1999

Another Turn of the Screw, Gallery of Central Fine Arts Academy, Beijing, China

1998

Your Customs – Our Customs, Altes Zollamt, Frankfurt, Germany

1994

Cut the Fingernails from My Body, Espace d’Art Contemporain Le Faubourg, Strasbourg, France

1993

Rencontres dans un couloir, private apartment of Hou Hanru, Paris, France

1992

Troisième demeure mondiale, Frankfurt, Germany

1991

Works on Paper, Frith Street Gallery, London, UK

1990

Voyage au Mexique, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico

1986

Xinghe Exhibition, Central Park Gallery, Guangdong Artists Association, Guangzhou, China

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024-2025

Shanshui: Echoes and Signals, M+, Hong Kong

2024

Museum: Modern and Contemporary Collection, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

2023-2024

A Blueprint for Ruins, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Delight in the Invisible: Abstract Narrative of Momentary, Ming Yuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2023

Chengdu Biennale: Time Gravity, Chengdu Art Museum, Chengdu, China
Minimal: The Art from East Asia, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany

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
Ink City, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong

2020

Ink Sky: Exhibition of Chinese Ink Art Year Book 2020, An Art Museum, Beijing, China
Waves and Echoes: A Process of Re-contemporarization in Chinese Art Circa 1987 Revisited, Inside-out Art Museum, Beijing, China

2019

Art 021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China
Arts of China, Arts of Asia Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA

10th International Ink Art Biennial of Shenzhen: Ink at Current, Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, Shenzhen, China
5th Collector's Contemporary Collaboration, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong

Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

2018

Beyond Ink: 20^th 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

In Flux: Chinese Contemporary Art, Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Art 021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair 2017, Alisan Fine Arts, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China
1st Wuhan Ink Biennial, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan, China

2016

Alisan Fine Arts：Celebrating 35 Years of Promoting Chinese Contemporary Art, Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong

2015

La Chine ardente, Sculptures monumentales contemporaines, Mons - European Cultural Capital, Le abbattoires, Mons, Belgium
Harmony and Transition, Chinese Landscapes in Contemporary Art, MARTA Herford, Herford, Germany
Tracing the Brush, Transformed Text, Ink Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

2014

Advance through Retreat, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
China’s Changing Landscape, Nordic Watercolor Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden

2013-2014

Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

2013

Essence of Contemporary Chinese Ink, Art Basel Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Zizhiqu/ Autonomous Regions, Times Museum, Guangzhou, China
From Gesture to Language, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Yuandao, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong

2012

Reactivation - Shanghai Biennial, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
Sehnsucht, Castel Gaasbeeck, Leenik, Belgium
Clouds, The Museum of Sketches - Archives of Public Art, Lund, Sweden

2011

The World Belongs to You, Palazzo Grassi, Foundation F. Pinault, Venice, Italy
Death Matters, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tracing the Milky Way, Tang Contemporary Art Center, Beijing, China

2010

New Ink Art: Painting & Installation, ART HK10, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Hareng Saur: Ensor et l’art contemporain, MSK and S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium
L’Océan, Espace Bellevue, Biarritz, France
Le Jardin Emprunté, Jardin du Palais-Royal, Paris, France
Thirty years of Contemporary Chinese Art, Minsheng Museum, Shanghai, China

2009

Against Exclusion - 3rd Moscow Biennial, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
10th Lyon Biennale: The Spectacle of the Everyday, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
Qui a peur des artistes? Une sélection d’œuvres de la Fondation François Pinault, Musée de Dinard, Dinard, France
Becoming Intense, Becoming Animal, Becoming…, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
Hong Kong International Art and Antiques Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Ding Yi, Shen Fan, Yang Jiechang, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2008

Onda Anomala – Manifesta 7, Trento, Italy
Too Early For Vacation, RV&A, Limerick, Ireland
3rd Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Our Future, special project, UCCA, Beijing, China
Hong Kong Art: Open Dialogue Exhibition Series II – New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond, curated by Alice King, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong

2007

One Hundred Layers of Ink: Yang Jiechang and Recent Works of Wei Ligang, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
Metamorphosis - The Generation of Transformation in Chinese Contemporary Art, Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
Made in China, Louisiana Museum, Kopenhagen, Denmark
New Wave ’85, UCCA, Beijing, China

2006

Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
Laboratoires pour un avenir incertain, La Force de l’Art - 1st Paris Triennial, Grand Palais, Paris, France
La revoluzione siamo noi, Isola Art Center, Milan, Italy
Micro-Macro Politics, Macau Museum of Art, Macau
5th Shenzhen International Ink Biennial: Taste, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Capolavoro, Palazzo di Primavera, Terni, Rome, Italy
Infiltration – Idylls and Visions, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China

2005

Beyond, 2nd Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Layered Landscapes, Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford, USA
Biennial of Emergency, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Experimental Ink, Museum of the University of Science, Taipei and Taichung, Taiwan

2004

French Diaspora, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
La Nuit Blanche, Paris, France
Le moine et le démon, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
A l’est du sud de l’ouest, Villa Arson, Nice; Credac Sète, France
Odyssey(s) 2004, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
All Under Heaven, Muhka (Museum of Modern Art), Antwerp, Belgium

2003

Zone of Urgency, 50th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy

2002

Shenzhen Ink Biennial, Shenzhen Painting Institute, Shenzhen, China
1st Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Pause: Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju, South Korea

2001

20 Main Chinese Painters, National Art Museum of China, Bejing; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
China: 20 Years of Ink Experiment, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China

2000

Paris pour Escale, Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Fuori Uso – The Bridges, Pescara, Italy

1999

Asiart 99 - Biennale d’arte contemporanea, Museum of Contemporary Art Genova, Genova, Italy

1998

Les magiciens de la terre, Anina Nosei Gallery, New York, USA
2nd Shanghai International Biennial, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China

1997

In Between Limits, Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyongju, Korea

1996

East-West, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Germany

1995

Hölderlinturm, Hölderlinturm, Tübingen, Germany

1994

Out of the Centre, Museum of Modern Art, Pori, Finland

1993

Coalition, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, UK
Silent Energy, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
Construction in Process No. 4 - My Home is your Home, The Artists’ Museum, Lodz, Poland
Mao’s Untamed Children, Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, Germany

1992

The Artists’ Museum, Lodz, Poland
History of the Rocket, The Tree of Life - A Journey to Asian Contemporary Art, Saitama Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan

1991

Exceptional Passage, Museum City Project, Fukuoka, Japan

1990

Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico
Chine demain pour hier, Pourrières, France

1989

China/Avantgarde, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
Les Magiciens de la Terre, Centre d’Art Moderne Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

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