Biography: Wu Xiaojun

1966

Born in Jiangsu Province, China

1988
BA, Nanjing Academy of Arts, Nanjing, China
Lives and works in Beijing now

Wu Xiaojun believes contemporary art should have an effect on the surrounding community. Art should interact with politics, economics and other fields. Wu expresses concerns about current events and re-interprets social reality by means of artistic practices, thus to convey an artist’s critical thinking on these phenomena.

Wu Xiaojun was born into a military family and has been interested in painting since childhood. He attended Nanjing Academy of Art during the period of “85 New Wave Art Movement”. However, he immersed himself in academic oil painting. In 1992, Wu held a solo exhibition in the Beijing Library (now the National Library of China), and later(1994)became an art editor at the “New Wave” art magazine. After learning of Curt Cobain’s suicide, Wu decided that academic art education was based more on knowledge than on practical understanding and experience and he stopped painting.

Beginning in 1998, Wu Xiaojun began working in conceptual photography and other mediums considered new to Chinese contemporary art. Wu’s interest in photography developed from his time at “Exploring” magazine following his graduation. “Exploring” hired a number of classically trained photographers to illustrate the literary works of the magazine and Wu was inspired by the images power. Wu also began working in sculpture and looking to current events for inspiration. Inspired by the murder case of Zhejiang University graduate Zhou Yichao, who failed in his civil service application because he suffered from Hepatitis B, Wu created a sculpture “Zhou Yichao” that aroused widespread controversy.

Recently, he has started to use neon as a medium. Representative works include “Gift”, “Together with You” and “Lightning”, etc. Other works include “Arbeit Macht Frei”, “Enough” and “2025 Project”, which are created with epigram like texts. 

Wu Xiaojun was born in 1966, Jiangsu Province and graduated from Nanjing Academy of Arts in 1988. He currently resides and works in Beijing. Wu was included in the following exhibitions: “2025 Project”(2008) at Magician Space, Beijing, China; “ReShaping History: Chinart from 2000 to 2009″(2010) at the National Convention Center, Beijing, China; “New Middle Kingdom”(2008) at the Red Mansion Foundation, Liverpool, UK and “News”(2006) at Beijing Community, Beijing, China.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

2010

Great Performance, Pace Beijing, Beijing, China
ReShaping History: Chinart from 2000 to 2009, Beijing, China
Asian Landmark, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2009
Work In Progress: How Do Artists Work, Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Conspiracy, Other Gallery Beijing Space, Beijing, China
Remix and Share, Inter Art Center & Gallery, Beijing, China
Blank Making Life, Inside-Out Art Center, Beijing, China
Constellations, 798 Art District, Chongqing International Exhibition Center, Beijing, China
Art and Culture Visions at the Moment, Chongqing International Convention Center, Chongqing, China
Future Index…Natural or Not, Songzhuang Shangbao Art Museum, Beijing, China
19 Games, 798 Art District, Beijing, China
Rave/ Forum, Beijing Li-Space Culture & Art center, Beijing, China

2008
New Middle Kingdom, The Red Mansion Foundation, Liverpool, UK
Freezone China, Switzerland

2008
2025 Project, Magician Space, Beijing, China

2007
The Temperament of Detail, The Red Mansion Foundation, London, UK
The Weight of the Reality, Marella Gallery, Beijing, Chiina

2006
News, Beijing Commune, Beijing, China
Have Arrived, 706 Space, Beijing, China
Ertijiao, Tang’s Gallery, Beijing, China
Decoration, Long March Space, Beijing, China

2005
Reflects the Reality: Photography Exhibition, Singapore National Museum, Singapore

Zhou Yichao, “Zhou Yichao” event is widely spread out all over China, created the sculpture

Selected Group Exhibitions

2004
Spellbound Aura: The New Vision of Chinese photography, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, China
Reflects the Reality: Photography Exhibition, Denver Contemporary Art Museum, Denver, U.S.A.

2003
Moyemode, Moyemobude: Open Studio Exhibition, 798 Art District, Beijing, China

2002
1st Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China

2001
Cross-pressures: Contemporary Photography and Video from Beijing, The Finish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland

2000
Serendipity: Photography, Video, Experimental Film and Multimedia Installation from Asia, Japanese Foundation Forum, Tokyo, Japan

1999
Revolutionary Capitals: Beijing in London, ICA Contemporary Art Research Center, London, UK
Revolutionary Capitals: England Departure from China, Design Museum, Beijing, China
A Visible Spirit: Contemporary Photography from the People’s Republic of China, Cypress College Photography Galleries, California, U.S.A.

1998
Corruptionists, Chinese Contemporary Photography Exhibition Tour, Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, China