Biography: Shen Liang
“I give old things new meanings through my work.”
Born: Yingkou City, Liaoning, 1976
Painting “is like an asylum for me”, says Shen Liang. Within that haven he experiments boldly, playing contemporary riffs on themes from China’s past. An early series of paintings reflected on Beijing Opera, an iconic art form that people his own age largely ignore. For This Is a Book (2007) Shen Liang revisited the propaganda comic books of the Cultural Revolution, reproducing their covers in oils at many times the original size, then defacing the images with lewd and jokey scribbles—the kind bored schoolboys might do in class. In treating pulp propaganda as worthy of the academy, he mocks Party attempts at thought control, their gullible audience—and himself as an artist. Once, “when you finished a painting, you dared not mess with it,” he says. “It was such a heavy feeling. Now I find that vandalising my own paintings relaxes me.”
1996
Graduated from the attached school of Central Academy of Fine Arts
2000
Graduated from oil painting department of Central Academy of Fine Arts
2003
Received Master’degreeof oil painting department of Central Academy
of Fine Arts.
Now teaching in Beijing Institute of Art and Design
Solo Exhibitions:
2012
Material Engraving Picture – Shen Ling Solo Exhibition, Space Station, Beijing, China
2011
Far Mountain, Michael Schultz Gallery, Beijing, China
2008
Hope to see you there, Michael schultz gallery, Seoul / Korea
This is a book, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Second Look, Red Elation Gallery, Hong Kong, China
On the Cover, Michael Schultz Gallery, German, Berlin
2007
Recent works by Shen Liang, Goedhuis Contemporary, New York / U.S.A
2006
Dooding and Painting, Zi Jinxuan Gallery, Beijing / China
2005
Shen Liang, Peking Opera, LA Gallery, Frankfurt / Germany
Group Exhibitions:
2011
Experimental Painting Manual – Feizi Gallery, Shanghai
White Rabbit – Contemporary Chinese Art Collection – The Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide, SA
Context – Bild und Text- LA. Galerie – Lothar Albrecht, Frankfurt
Eastside – Aktuelle Positionen Chinesischer Kunst – Galerie Michael Schulz, Berlin
2010
History Lessons – Group Exhibit – Pekin Fine Arts, Beijing
All the Great Modern Things – Galerie Schloss Mochental, SchloB Mochental
2009
Pieces of my puzzle – Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock
All the Great Modern Things – Chinese Pop – Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, Osnabruck
All the great modern things: CHINA TOTAL – Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock
2008
Chinese Contemporary, Kunsthalle Dresden, Dresden / Germany
Works by krisrian Devantier & Shen Liang,
The Danish Art Exchange, Beijing / China
2006
N12 New Painting Show, C5 Gallery, Beijing / China
Extended Realism – The Oil Painting of China Mainland from 1978 Taipei Fin Arts museum / Taiwan
2005
N12 New Painting Show, Museum od Central
Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing / China
Art of the 20th Century, New York / U.S.A
A Return to Painting, Goedhuis Contemporary Gallery, New York / U.S.A
Contemporary Art from Greater China,
Goedhuis Contemporary Gallery, New York / U.S.A
Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai / China
China Today, Art Museum, Beijing / China
Salon du Collectionneur, Paris / France
2004
N12 New Painting Show, Museum od Central
Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing / China
China’s Photographic Painting,China Art Seasons Gallery, Beijing / China
Group Show with Artists of China and Germany,
L.A. Gallery, Beijing / China
2003
Attention One’s Native Place, China Art Seasons Gallery, Beijing / China
N12 New Painting Show, Museum od Central
Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing / China
1999
HOME, Contemporary Museum, Beijing / China
