China
• 1986
Biography
He Xiangyu, born in 1986 in China, is an artist working in Beijing. In 2008, he graduated from the Department of Pictorial Arts by Shenyang Normal University.
In 2014, his work enabled him to become a finalist in the third edition of the “Future Generation Art Prize". The latter was created by Ukrainian businessman and patron Viktor Mykhaïlovytch Pintchouk (1960). Art lover, Pintchouk inaugurated the PinchukArtCentre in 2006, where the “Future Generation Prize" is awarded.
A committed artist, Xiangyu's art reflects his political and social commitments and evokes the short and intense period of urbanization in China. He uses a variety of materials in the development of his works. Each of the materials used appeals to the viewer's senses and pushes the viewer to question society and all its multiple aspects.
In 2014, he produced “Lemon Flavored", a series of several life-size lemons made with acrylic paint. These completely realistic lemons illustrate the consumer society but also mass production in China. The artist also produced a series of three videos during the year 2016. These videos represent a group of several people sending mayonnaise to each other's faces. Xiangyu produced in 2011 “200g Gold, 62g protein", a work representing a practically empty egg box in which only one egg remains. The consumer society and in particular excessive production and waste are also illustrated in the work “Cola Project" (2010).
Socially engaged, He Xiangyu is also politically engaged. Between 2011 and 2013, the artist created a leather sculpture entitled “Tank". This work symbolizes the artist's political commitment and his point of view on the military repressions carried out on the Chinese people. More particularly, it evokes the repression of Tiananmen which shook China on June 4, 1989.
Xiangyu is one of the committed Chinese artists such as the artist Ai Weiwei (1957). Xiangyu will, moreover, represent the latter in his work “Ai Weiwei face down on the floor". AI Weiwei is depicted there face down. The work dates from 2011 and is politically engaged and supports artist AI Weiwei. Indeed, the latter was arrested by the police on April 3, 2011 officially for tax evasion. He was released on bail on June 22, 2011.
His ambitious and provocative works highlight aspects of Western society within China.
He Xiangyu usually exhibits in his native country. His most recent exhibition took place in 2016 at the Paul-Klee Center in Bern, Switzerland.
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When was He Xiangyu born?
The year of birth of the artist is: 1986