Exhibition View

Themed on “Blue Tiger”, the latest solo exhibition by Prof. Wu Jian’an, a PhD. Supervisor from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, was unveiled at PIFO Gallery, Beijing. It showcases Wu’s latest glass sculptures from the “Invisible Faces” series, recent creations of the iconic “Incarnation” series, and a number of large-scale installations that he created with materials such as paper pulp, plaster, and limestone, all of which constitute a “holographic” space with surging energy, where the artist’s thinking and visual creation are highlighted.

Exhibition View

The title of this exhibition was quoted from the short story “Blue Tiger” by the renowned writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). Wu Jian’an has been exploring the logic between reality and imagination, the present and the ancient, poetry and dreams. Through a variety of materials, media and artistic languages, he intends to portray the eternal part of civilization history, weaving a narrative between time, space and civilization, and further triggering reflection and observation on the era and people.

Wu Jian'an, Blue Tiger, Glass, tinted glass, silver, 38×34×34cm (outer layer), 28×14×12cm (inner layer), 2024Wu Jian'an, Starlight is the child of the stars, my face is their paradise, Glass, tinted glass, silver, 36×33×38cm (outer layer), 19×12.5×12.5cm (inner layer), 2024Wu Jian'an, Handprints, Limestone, 130×180×110cm, 2024Wu Jian'an, Touching the Cave Through Paper Pulp, Guizhou earthen paper pulp, ink, wooden frame, 350×480×25cm, 2023Wu Jian'an, The universe is perpetually in motion, vigorous and strong: Running in Summer, watercolor paper, watercolor and mineral pigments, beeswax, cotton thread, backed silk rice paper, 190×285cm, 2024Wu Jian'an, The universe is perpetually in motion, vigorous and strong: Running in Autumn, watercolor paper, watercolor and mineral pigments, beeswax, cotton thread, backed silk rice paper, 190×285cm, 2024Wu Jian'an, Tiger in Negative Space, Foaming agent, artificial fur, cotton cloth, wooden cabinet, 100 × 180 × 50 cm, 62 × 167 × 60 cm (wooden cabinet), 2022Wu Jian'an, Omen of Tigers, Foaming agent, artificial fur, cotton cloth, 84×114×209cm, 2016

The exhibition remains on view till February 28, 2025.

About the Artist

Wu Jian’an, born in 1980 in Beijing, China. He is currently a professor and Ph.D. degree tutor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

The artistic logic and visual creativity of Wu Jian'an are rooted in his use of scenes that seem distant from contemporary life to express eternal threads that run through the history of human civilization. He awakens the hidden and subtle yet grand and majestic subconscious that lies within every human heart, inspiring the viewer to reflect on human nature and the times in which we live.

In 2017, Wu represented China in the 57th Venice Biennale. In recent years, Wu’s art works have attended Bordercrossing: Possibilities and Interactions (Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China, 2023), Lines of Thought: Gestural Abstraction in the BAMPFA Collection (Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, USA, 2022), SUPER FUSION: 2021 Chengdu Biennale (Tianfu Art Park, Chengdu, China, 2021), Glasstress: Window to the Future (The State Hermitage Museum, Russia, 2021), KAIWU: Art et design en Chine (Musée de l’Hospice Comtesse, France, 2021), The Endless Life—the Narrative of the Yellow River (The Museum of Contemporary Art Yinchuan, Ningxia, China, 2020), Art and Archaeology (Naples National Archaeological Museum, Italy, 2019), The 7th Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial (Echigo-Tsumari, Japan, 2018), Serpenti Form (Art Science Museum, Singapore, Singapore; Mori Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Chengdu Museum, Chengdu, China; 2017-2019), The Carolyn Hsu and René Balcer Collection: Exploring Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA, 2015), Cosmos (Shanghai 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China, 2014), etc. He had held several solo exhibitions in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Xi’an, Singapore, Basel, Kalamazoo, Chicago and New York City.

His work has been collected by important institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (USA), the Museum of Fine Art, Boston (USA), the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archiver (USA), the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (Brazil), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA), the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University (USA), the White Rabbit Gallery (Australia), the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), the CAFA Art Museum (China), the Beijing Minsheng Art Museum (China), the Start Museum (China), etc. His work is also in the collection of the Modern Media Group, the HSBC Jade center, the Chen Yidan Foundation, Hermès, DIOR and BVLGARI.

Credited for the far-reaching impact of his artistic practice, Wu received “The Asian Cultural Council (ACC) 2021 Grants”, which made him the only visual artist in China to receive this award that year. In recent years, he has also received the “Influential 2023: Forbes China Contemporary Young Artists” (Forbes China), the “2020 Best of the Best Awards for Artists”(Robb Report), the “2018 40 Under 40 Awards”(Perspective), the “2017 Young Power”(Southern People Weekly), and several other cultural awards bestowed by influential medias and institutes.

About the Exhibition

Duration: December 21, 2024 - February 28, 2025 

Venue: PIFO Gallery

Image Courtesy of the Artist and PIFO Gallery.