Xie Xiaoze

1966, Guangdong, China

Introduction

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).

Alisan Fine Arts’ booth at ART SG 2025 is the gallery's first time working with the artist.


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 US General Services Administration's Art-in-Architecture Program, Federal Building and US 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

2024-2025

  • Amber of History: Reimagining the Library Cave at Dunhuang, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

2022   

  • Xiaoze Xie: Flammable Ideas, Fragile Objects, East Asia Library, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

  • Xiaoze Xie: Heretical Knowledge, C.V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

  • Xiaoze Xie: Panorama of Eternal Night, Anglim/Trimble Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA

  • Xiaoze Xie: Library Paintings, Pi Artworks, Art Basel Online Viewing Room, USA

2021   

  • Xiaoze Xie: New Paintings from the Library Series, online exhibition, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2020   

  • Out of the Dark: Works by Xiaoze Xie, 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: Paintings by Xiaoze Xie, Stanford in Washington Art Gallery, Washington DC, USA

2017   

  • Eyes On: Xiaoze Xie, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, USA

  • Xiaoze Xie: Nocturnes, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA 

2016   

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

2015   

  • Xiaoze Xie: Subtexts, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

  • Xiaoze Xie: Libraries, Moatti Masters/Contemporary, London, UK

2012  

  • Xiaoze Xie, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California, USA

  • Xiaoze Xie, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2011  

  • Xiaoze Xie: 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  

  • Xiaoze Xie: Theatre of Power, Mesaros Galleries, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

2010-2012  

  • Xiaoze Xie: 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

  • Xiaoze Xie, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California, USA

2009  

  • Xiaoze Xie, Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2008  

  • Quotidian Truths: Paintings by Xie Xiaoze, 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  

  • Xiaoze Xie, 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/Recent Work by Xiaoze Xie, New Talent Gallery, Irving Arts Centre, Irving, Texas, USA

  • Xiaoze Xie: The Library Paintings, Gallery 414, Fort Worth, Texas, USA


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025

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

2022

  • Tradition and Modernity: Representative Works by Modern and Contemporary Chinese Artists, Art Hong Kong, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

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

  • Swimming in the World of Images, We Gallery, Shanghai, China

2019

  • Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture, 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 Centre, 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 Centre, 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 Centre; 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 & 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 Centre 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 Centre, Utah; Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, Wyoming; Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho, USA

2004-2005

  • 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, The 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
JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York, USA
Old Jail Art Centre, Albany, Texas, USA