WANG Chuan
王川Live and work in Beijing (b. 1953)
Wang Chuan graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 1982. He lives and works in Beijing.
He began the early years of his career as a successful realist painter. In 1984 he moved to Shenzhen, whose openness to Hong Kong and to a wider world led him towards an interest in minimalism and installation work. As an important artist of the ’85 New Wave art movement, Wang began to turn more towards experimentation with an abstract painting language, and his abstract works were featured in the seminal China/Avant-Garde exhibition (1989) at the National Museum of China in Beijing. By early 1990s, Wang Chuan was producing ‘hard edge’ abstract works, working with both Chinese and Western media. In the late 1990s’, sudden illness drew Wang Chuan to a turning point which helped to transform his practice. The energy at work here arises from contrasts contained within, between big and small, imaginary and real: thick and thin, points, lines and surfaces that produce an almost spiritual experience. It is when an artist manages to let go of the ego and submits to the profound laws of the universe.
Wang Chuan’s works are part of many museum collections, including the Minsheng Art Museum, Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Long Museum, Shanghai.
| 1953 | Born in Chengdu, China |
| 1978 | Accepted into the Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts, majoring in Chinese and oil painting |
| 1982 | BA Degree, Chinese Painting, Sichuan Art Academy, Chongqing, China |
| 1982-1984 | Art editor and photographer for Modern Art |
| 1984 | Moved to Shenzhen and experimented in ink and oil |
| 1998 | Diagnosed with Gastric Cancer, had an operation and chemotherapy in Sichuan |
| 2005-2006 | Became an artist in residence at Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, China |
Selected Solo Exhibition
| 2026 | Wang Chuan: Four Decades of Abstraction, Long Museum, Shanghai, China |
| 2022 | Wang Chuan: Circumference, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen, China |
| 2018 | Wang Chuan Solo Exhibition: Unlimited, A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, Chengdu, China |
| Wang Chuan Solo Exhibition – The Box, X Gallery, Beijing | |
| 2017 | Wang Chuan Solo Exhibition – Forms of Line, Galerie Du Monde, Hong Kong |
| 2016 | Wang Chuan Solo Exhibition – The Survivor, Linbart Gallery, Shanghai, China |
| Wang Chuan Solo Exhibition – Significant Forms, Linbart Gallery, Shanghai, China | |
| Ink-Well, Lelege Art, Beijing, China | |
| 2015 | Early Works by Wang Chuan, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong |
| Always Going Home: The Recent Paintings of Wang Chuan, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| 2014 | Wang Chuan – Grid, PIN Art, Beijing, China |
| 2013 | Locus – Wang Chuan Solo Exhibition, A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, Chengdu, China |
| 2012 | The Elements of Chinese Ink Art: Wang Chuan Solo Exhibition, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China |
| Wang Chuan’s Ink Painting Exhibition, Galerie 99, Aschaffenburg, Germany | |
| 2011 | Wang Chung – Refocus: Dragon 2010–2011, Pekin Fine Arts, Beijing, China |
| Ink on Paper by Wang Chuan, Babu Gallery, Shenzhen | |
| 2010 | Wang Chuan’s Oil Painting Exhibition, PIFO New Art Gallery, Beijing, China |
| 2007 | My Landscape, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing |
| 2006 | Waking of Graffiti – Wang Chuan’s New Oil Painting, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal of He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen |
| Chinese Abstract Art by Wang Chuan, Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai | |
| 2001 | Trace of Life: A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by Wang Chuan, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen |
| 2000 | Wang Chuan, Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, Shenzhen, China |
| Wang Chuan: Diary of a Reflective Life, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong | |
| 1999 | Wang Chuan’s Ink Paintings, Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, Shenzhen, China |
| Wang Chuan, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong | |
| 1998 | Ink Paintings by Wang Chuan, Gallery 456, Soho, New York, USA |
| 1991 | Blackness – Wang Chuan’s Solo Exhibition, Shenzhen Museum, Shenzhen, China |
| 1990 | Wang Chuan, Shenzhen Fine Art Institude, Shenzhen |
| Wang Chuan, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, Taipei | |
| 1988 | Wang Chuan’s Ink Paintings, National Art Museum, Beijing |
Selected Joint Exhibition
| 2026 | Old Tales Retold, Rongbaozhai, Guangzhou |
| Where Ink Begins: A Journey into Contemporary Ink Art, Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen | |
| 2025 | Line, Form, Qi: Calligraphic Art from the Foundation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA |
| 2024 | Contemporary Logic of a Pure and Remote View, Wuhan Art Museum (Qintai), Wuhan |
| 2023 | Chengdu Biennale: Time Gravity, Chengdu Art Museum, Chengdu |
| Macau International Art Biennial, Macau Museum of Art, Macau | |
| 2021 | Ink Dreams: Selections from the Fondation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA |
| 2019 | The Gaze of History – Contemporary Chinese Art Revisited, Jupiter Art Museum, Shenzhen, China |
| Freeland Around the Second Line – Shenzhen Contemporary Art in 2019, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shenzhen, China | |
| Spearhead.New Abstract of Ink Painting: Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Ink Wash, Chengdu Museum, Chengdu, China | |
| Resonating with The Times: Sichuan Oil Painting Invitational Exhibition, Shanghai Mingyuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China | |
| 2018 | Ink Worlds: Contemporary Chinese Painting from the Collection of Akiko Yamakazi and Jerry Yang, The Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA |
| Abstraction as Painterly Rhetoric: A Case Study Between Germany and China, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| Shang Yang, Wang Chuan, Yan Shanchun: A State of Mind, Chambers Fine Art, Beijing, China | |
| Art Chengdu International Contemporary Art Fair 2018, Chengdu, China | |
| 2017 | Boundless: Ongoing-Chinese Ink Art 2017, Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China |
| Decade: Abstract Art 10, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| Bent and Straight: The logic of Abstract, Hi Art Center, Beijing, China | |
| Spring X Discovery, A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, Chengdu, China | |
| The Polars: New Ink Wash Painting Series Exhibition, Autumn Water Space, Hong Kong | |
| ART021, Shanghai, China | |
| Asia Now 2017, Paris, France | |
| Vienna Contemporary, Vienna, Italy | |
| 2016 | Since the Abstract – The Tour Research Exhibition of Abstract Art in China, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China |
| Nonfigurative, Shanghai 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China | |
| Abstract China 2016, Mingyuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China | |
| Annual Review Exhibition of China Contemporary Ink Painting 2015-2016, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China | |
| The Research Exhibition of Abstract Art in China, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China | |
| Poétique – The 9th Annual Exhibition of Abstract Art, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| Retrace of the World, Renke Gallery, Hangzhou, China | |
| China Line – School Art Contemporary Research Exhibition, Epoch Art Museum, Wenzhou, China | |
| 2015 | About Painting Too, OCAT Xi’an, Xi’an |
| Post-Calligraphy in Chinese Contemporary Art, Kunstraum Villa Friede, Bonn, Germany | |
| Off the Beaten Track- Revisit Four Individual Cases of 1990s, A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, Chengdu; Today Art Museum, Beijing, China | |
| Inward – The Eighth Exhibition of Chinese Abstract Art, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| Living in Chengdu, Chengdu Art Museum, Chengdu | |
| 2014 | About Painting Too, Kuandu Museum of Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan |
| COSMOS: Inauguration of Shanghai 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum, 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai | |
| Re-View – Opening Exhibition of Long Museum West Bund, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai | |
| Original Home: An Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Jiapingwa Cultural Museum of Art, Xi’an | |
| 2014’-The Seventh Abstract Art Exhibition, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| Changing – Abstracts in China, Lelege Art Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| 2013 | The Parallel show of the 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy |
| RE-INK Contemporary Ink and Wash Painting, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan; Today Art Museum, Beijing | |
| Mind and Hand in Accord: the 6th Exhibition of Chinese Abstract Art, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| Boundary of Freedom, Fourth Round, Nina Torres Fine Art, Miami, USA | |
| 2012 | Chinese Contemporary Ink Painting Art Exhibition, Kunsthaus, Hamburg, Germany |
| Undoing Shuimo, Internationational Contemporary Shuimo Invitational Exhibition, Shanghai DuoLun Museum of Modern Art, Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai, China | |
| Art ·Frontier, Contemporary Art Exhibition, Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing, China | |
| Self-Essence Naturalism, Today Art Museum, Beijing | |
| Attitude – About Abstract Art, Shanghai Suzhou River Art Center, Shanghai, China | |
| The 1st Project Exhibition of the 4th Guangzhou Triennal: Disenchantment of Chinese Imagination – Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China | |
| Art Beijing, National Agricultural Exhibition Centre, Beijing | |
| 2011 | Graphology of Painting, Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing |
| I Believe That: Chinese Contemporary Art in Songzhuang, Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing, China | |
| Visible Soul: The Forth Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Abstract Art, Visible Soul: The Forth Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Abstract Art” | |
| Not Absence from Attendance, Chengdu Wenxuan Art Museum, Chengdu, China | |
| Inauguration of Singapore Yang Gallery in Beijing, Beijing | |
| 2010 | Reconstructed: Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Abstract Art, Beijing Jindu Art Centre, Beijing, China |
| Array with No Objects: Academic Invitation Exhibition of Contemporary Abstract Art in 2010, Hubei Museum of art, Wuhan | |
| Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art (1979–2009), Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai | |
| Nomadic Reality: Into Contemporaneity with Fractured Culture, Esse Space, Beijing, China | |
| Open Frame: New Landscape Photography from China, Yavuz Fine Art, Singapore | |
| Art Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland | |
| 2009 | Exhibition of Chinese Abstract Art: Return to the Modern, Zhejiang Museum of Arts, Hangzhou |
| Yi-Pai: Century Thinking, Today Art Museum, Beijing | |
| Where the Spirit Lives: Exhibition on Occasion of 100th Anniversary of Abstract, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| Spectacle and Gaze: Collection of Contemporary Photography in China, Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, Beijing, China | |
| Open Flexibility: Innovative Contemporary Ink Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei | |
| 2008 | Case Studies of Arts History and Art Criticism, SZ Art Center, Beijing |
| Going to Post-abstract, PIFO Gallery, Beijing | |
| Yi Pai·30 Years of Chinese Abstract Art, LaCaixa Form Art Museum Madrid, Spain | |
| 2007 | Start from Southwest – Southwest Contemporary Art Exhibition, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China |
| Qi Yun- International Exhibition of Chinese Abstract Art, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal of the He Xiangning Art Museum (OCAT), Shenzhen, China; Beijing Art Now Gallery, Beijing, China; Artist Commune, Hong Kong; China Square, New York, USA | |
| Line – Chinese Contemporary Abstract Art Exhibition, Creek Art, Shanghai, China | |
| Ink Had Five Colours, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| October Contemporary 2007: Again, Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong; Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong; Para Site, Hong Kong; Artist Commune, Hong Kong | |
| 2006 | Chinese Ink Documentary Exhibition, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China |
| Create History: Commemoration Exhibition of Chinese Modern Art in 1980s, OCAT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China | |
| Sign d’Existence, Central Academy of Fine Art Gallery, Beijing, China | |
| Wang Chuan, Yan Shanchun Double Show, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong | |
| A Selected Collection of Shenzhen Fine Art Institute 1986-2006, Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, Shenzhen, China | |
| 2005 | International Exhibition of Modern Calligraphy 2005 Hangzhou China, The Gallery of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China |
| Gift for Hong Kong, Hong Kong Art Museum, Hong Kong | |
| The Act of Writing and of Non-Writing: The Open Space for Chinese Calligraphy – International Exhibition of Modern Calligraphy 2005 Hangzhou China, The Gallery of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China | |
| Taking Off: An Exhibition of the Contemporary Art Collection in the He Xiangning Art Museum and Contemporary Art Terminal, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal of He Xiang Ning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China | |
| Retrospection of Experimental Ink & Wash 1985 – 2000, Shenzhen Fine Art Institute, Shenzhen, China | |
| Korean – Chinese Contemporary Ink Painting, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea | |
| 2004 | The 4th International Ink Painting Biennial of Shenzhen, Guan ShanYue Museum of Art, Shenzhen, China |
| 2002 | Review Today’s Works of 77′, 78′, Art Museum of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China |
| Season’s Greetings, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong | |
| 2001 | Urban Slang – Chinese Contemporary Art of Zhujiang Delta, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen; Cattle Depot Artist Village, Hong Kong |
| 1st Space for Contemporary Ink Work – China: 20 Years of Ink Experiment 1980-2001, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou | |
| Shenzhen Chouxiang, Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen | |
| 2000 | New Chinese Painting Grand Exhibition, Jiangsu Art Museum, Liuhaisu Art Museum, Jiangsu/Shanghai, China |
| China: 20 Years of Ink Experiment, Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China | |
| The 2nd International Ink Painting Biennial of Shenzhen, Guan ShanYue Museum of Art, Shenzhen, China | |
| 1999 | The Gusto of Ink & Wash, German Herrenh of Mussbach Art Museum, Germany Exhibition of the Two Artists, Goldstrom Gallery, New York, USA |
| 1998 | The 1st Shenzhen International Ink and Wash Biennale, Guan ShanYue Museum of Art, Shenzhen, China |
| Looking Eastern – Three Artists, Goldstrom Gallery, New York, USA | |
| 1997 | Chinese Art Grand Exhibition — Ink and Wash Exhibition, Shanghai Library, Shanghai, China |
| 1996 | Returning to Homeland, Gallery on the RIM, San Francisco, USA |
| 1994 | Interior Forms, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong |
| 1993 | Chinese New Art, Post-1989, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong City Hall, Hanart TZ Gallery |
| Chinese Art of 90s — Chinese Experience, Sichuan Art Museum, Chengdu, China | |
| 1992 | 90s First Chinese Art Biennale, Guangzhou, China |
| 1991 | Chinese After 89’ Contemporary Art Documentary Exhibition, Beijing, China |
| 1990 | Metamorphosis – Chinese Modern Ink and Wash, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong |
| Wang Chuan, Lui Lik : “Vision.Spirit”, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong | |
| 1989 | China Avant-Garde, National Art Museum of China, Beijing |
| BLACKNESS – Four Ink Painters from the People’s Republic of China: GU Wenda, WANG Chuan, YANG Jie- chang, ZHANG Jian-jun, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong | |
| 1988 | Aspetti Della Pittura Chinese Contemporanea, Ferrara Arts Museum, Ferrara, Italy |
| Review 88, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong | |
| Words, Words, Words, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong | |
| 1983 | Sichuan Oil Painting Exhibition, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong |
| 1981 | Sichuan Art Institute Oil Painting Exhibition in Beijing, China Art Museum, Beijing, China |
| 1980 | Beijing The Second National Youth Art Exhibition, China Art Museum, Beijing, China |
Selected Public Collection
| Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA |
| British Museum, London, UK |
| Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA |
| Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, USA |
| Ferrara Art Museum, Italy |
| Norway National Art Museum, Norway |
| Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong |
| Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong |
| Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China |
| Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen,China |
| He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen,China |
| OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China |
| Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China |
| Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China |
| Long Museum, Shanghai, China |
| Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China |
| Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China |
