Yang Jiechang

Yang Jiechang (1956 – China) 

Yang Jiechang has established himself as one of the most important contemporary artists to emerge from China in the late twentieth century, renowned for his masterful synthesis of traditional Chinese painting techniques with contemporary artistic practice. Born in Foshan, Guangdong Province, he received rigorous training in calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting and ancient mounting techniques at the Foshan Folk Art Institute (1974-1978) and later at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (1978-1982), where he taught until 1989. During the mid-1980s, he deepened his study of Daoism with Master Huangtao at Mount Luofu and Zen Buddhism at Guangxiao Temple in Guangzhou. His participation in the seminal exhibition 'Magiciens de la Terre' at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1989 marked a turning point in his career, leading him to relocate permanently to Europe, where he has lived and worked between Paris and Heidelberg since. His artistic practice encompasses ink painting, calligraphy, installation, video, photography and performance, exploring themes of spirituality, political power, memory and the paradoxes of contemporary existence through both monumental abstraction and meticulous detail. In his forthcoming work with Galleria Barovier&Toso, Yang continues to expand his artistic language by working for the first time with Murano glass, translating the contemplative depth and material sophistication of his practice through the centuries-old Venetian craft tradition into glass. 

Major Exhibitions 

China/Avant-Garde, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (1989); 'Magiciens de la Terre', Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1989); Gwangju Biennale, Korea (2002); 50th Venice Biennale (2003); Guangzhou Triennial (2003, 2005, 2013); Liverpool Biennial (2006); Istanbul Biennial (2007); Lyon Biennial (2009); Moscow Biennial (2009); Shanghai Biennale (2012); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 'Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China' (2013); Museum of Natural History, Paris (FIAC, 2015); 'On Earth as in Heaven', Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, Paris (2016); Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence, 'Passion de l'Art' (2017); Manufacture de Sèvres, 'Tale of the 11th Day', eleven vases using the pâte-sur-pâte technique (2021-2022); Carte Blanche, Musée Guimet, Paris (2022); Musée Cernuschi, Paris, 'Ink in Motion: A History of Chinese Painting in the 20th Century' (2022-2023); He Art Museum, Guangdong, 'Tales of the South' (2023-2024); Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration, Paris, 'ASIE(2) J'ai une famille' (2023-2024); M+ Museum, Hong Kong, 'Hundred Layers of Ink' (2024-2025); Palazzo Barovier&Toso, Murano-Venice (forthcoming, 2027). 

Selected Publications
'China/Avant-Garde', National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 1989; 'Les Magiciens de la Terre', Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1989; 'Chine demain pour hier', Pourrières, France, 1990; 'Silent Energy: New Art from China', Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1993; 'Pause', Gwangju Biennale Catalogue, South Korea, 2002; 'Zone of Urgency', 50th Venice Biennale Catalogue, Venice, 2003; Guangzhou Triennial Catalogue, Guangzhou, 2003; Liverpool Biennial Catalogue, 2006; Istanbul Biennial Catalogue, 2007; Lyon Biennial Catalogue, 2009; Shanghai Biennale Catalogue, 2012; 'Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China', Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2013; 'Yang Jiechang: I Often Do Bad Things. Texts and Works 1982-2016', ed. Martina Köppel-Yang, Dortmund: Verlag Kettler, 2017; 'Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World', Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2017-2018; '3 Souls 7 Spirits', Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, 2019; 'Yang Jiechang: Tale of the 11th Day', Galerie de Sèvres / Musée Guimet, Paris, 2021-2022; 'Carte Blanche à Yang Jiechang', Musée Guimet, Paris, 2022; 'Ink in Motion: A History of Chinese Painting in the 20th Century', Musée Cernuschi, Paris, 2022-2023; 'Yang Jiechang: Hundred Layers of Ink', exh. cat. M+ Museum, Hong Kong, 9 Oct. 2024 – 24 May 2025.