Beijing-based artist Sheng Qi is probably best known for his act of personal defiance following the events in Tiananmen Square in June 1989: he cut off the little finger of his left hand.
Since then, he has incorporated the image and concept of this self-mutilation into his work, which includes photography, painting, sculpture, and performance art.
His recent work continues in the vein of subtle but firm subversion and quiet political protest.

The memory of hundreds of millions Chinese

My art is my memory.
I am not only an artist; I am an observer and recorder of history.
I use my brush to record the history of China in my lifetime, since 1965.
These events are truly important because they influence hundreds of millions of Chinese people and have shaped my life.
So I continue to record them as truthfully as I can in red and black

1965
Born in Hefei, China

1988
Graduated from the Central Academy of Art and Design, Beijing

1989-92
Lived and worked in Rome

1998
Graduated with an MFA from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design. London
Present Lives in London, works in Beijing

Selected Exhibitions

2009
Galerie Bork, Copenhagen
Gallery F2, Beijing

2008
History in Black and Red, Andrew James Art, Shang Hai
History in Black and Red, Wiegersma Fine Art, Brussels
Histroy in Black and Red, DF2 Gallery, Los Angeles

2007
History in Black and Red, 798/Red Gate Gallery , Beijing

2006
Missing…, 798/Avant Gallery, Beijing
Salute to Artists, 798/Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
Confidential, F2 Gallery, Beijing

2004
Madness and Appropriation, 798/Red Gate Gallery, Beijing

2003
Transcription, 798/Red Gate Gallery, Beijing

2000
Melbourne Fringe Festival, Mass Gallery, Melbourne

1998
Nine Pigeons + Nurse+ Sheng Qi, Beijing

1997
Fortune Cookies, Institute of Contemporary Art ( ICA) London

Selected Group Exhibitions

2008
China Gold Exhibit Museum Maillol. Paris Half-Life of a Dream: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Collection of Kent and Vicki
Logan , San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco

2007
Zhu Yi ! Fotografia actual en China, Artium Centro-Museo
Vasco de Arte Contemporaneo, Victoria-Gasteiz

2006
Mobile Socialism, A Contemporary Art Exhibition, 798, Beijing
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from
China Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara

2005
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, V&A Museum, London
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China,  Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago