CAI Jin

蔡錦

lives and works in Beijing (b. 1965, Tunxi)

1965 born in Tunxi, Anhui Province, Cai Jin is known for her lush oil paintings. She graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Anhui Normal University in 1986, and completed the Advanced Oil Painting Programme at Central Academy of Art in Beijing in 1991, and taught at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Art.

Cai Jin has described the visual sensation of a half wilting banana plant almost as a seduction, in which the sight and scent of decay draws forth her sensual responses, such that in depicting the plant in oils, especially when the colour red starts to take over, she feels an immense pleasure and an uncontrollable urge to immerse herself in the painting. The ambiguity of the obvious animal odour in the vegetal flesh of the banana plant, and the indefinite sexuality of the apparently autobiographical vaginal texture of the leaves heighten the sensuality and mystery of these paintings.

1965	Born in Tunxi, Anhui Province, China
1986	Graduated from the Fine Arts Department, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China
1991	Completed studies at the Oil Painting Department’s Advanced Studies Seminar, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
Present	Teaches at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin, China

Selected Solo Exhibition

2025	Body · Material Properties · Painting: Cai Jin(1990-2025), Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Cai Jin & Cai Jin Space, Cai Jin Space, Beijing, China
	Blossoming Heart, Art Gallery of Waldorf Astoria Beijing, Beijing, China
2024	Cai Jin:Imagery of the Jin Chamber, DG Art Space, Shanghai, China
2023	Flowers Are More Than Flowers: Cai Jin Art Exhibion, Anhui Art Museum, Hefei, China
	Cai Jin Solo Exhibition: Blossom of Women, Soul Art Center, Beijing, China
2022	Cai Jin’s Garden, Blanc Art Space, Beijing, China
2020	Flowers In Bloom Seek Tranguilit, KENT ART Science, Shenzhen, China
2018	Cai Jin: Arcadia, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
2017	A Gathering of Flower Fairies: Cai Jin Solo Exhibition, Triumph Gallery, Beijing, China
2015	Static and Flowing, Triumph Art Space, Beijing, China; New York, USA
2013	Cai Jin: Return to the Source, Chambers Fine Art, Beijing, China
2012	Cai Jin, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
2011	Cai Jin: Works on Paper, HdM Gallery, Beijing, China
2008	Cai Jin: Red Tide, PICI, Seoul, Korea
2007	Cai Jin, Beijing Cube Gallery, Beijing, China
2005	Cai Jin: Eros in Red, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2003	Beauty Banana Series: The Art of Cai Jin, Goedhuis Contemporary, New York, USA
	Cai Jin: Sound in Red, Fujikawa Gallery/Next, Osaka, Japan
2000	Cai Jin, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
1999	Cai Jin: Banana Plants Paintings, Asian Fine Arts Berlin, Berlin, Germany
	Cai Jin: Off the Canvas, The Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China
1997	Cai Jin: Chinese Hand Studies from Life, Ethan Cohen Fine Art, New York, USA
1995	Cai Jin: Recent Works, Kiang Gallery, Atlanta, USA
1991	Cai Jin’s Oil Painting, Art Gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing, China

Selected Joint Exhibition
2026	Colors! Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Mirror in Others: The American Experience of Chinese Contemporary Artists, Beijing American Center, Beijing, China
	The Framework of Perception, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China
2025	Encrucijadas: an encounter between artists and collectors from China and Spain, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Out of Unthought, Yuan Art Museum & Yan Art Space, Beijing, China
	Obsessions, TAO Art Center, Tianjin ,China
	1994, Yuan Art Museum & Yan Art Space, Beijing, China
2023	Embark·Hang, Central Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2021	Right Now, Right Here: Stand by Her, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
	Cai Jin, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
2020	Cai Jin in Hanart’s Botanical Garden, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
	A Botanical Garden at Hanart, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
2019	The Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art of China 2018, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
2018	The Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art of China 2017, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
	The World-2018 Research Exhibition of Contemporary Women’s Art in China, Yan Huang Art Museum, Beijing, China
2017	The Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art of China 2016, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
	In the Mood for Love: An Exhibition Featuring Chinese and Canadian Female Artists, Poly Vancouver Art Centre, Vancouver, Canada
2016	The Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art of China 2015, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Beyond the Peony Pavilion-An Exhibition of Contemporary Female Chinese Artist, Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg, Russia
	Over-painting, Mitigating the Dilemma of Contemporary Art, White Box Art Center, Beijing, China
	She-Exhibition of International Female Artist, Long Museum, Shanghai, China Xishanyin, Bridge Gallery, Beijing, China
	The Group Exhibition of Cai Jin, Deng Guoyuan, Ma Shuqing, Meng Luding, Qi Haiping, Tan Ping, Shiyi Art Space, Taiyuan, China
	Art and Human Rights——Voice, EU Délégation to China, Beijing, China
	The National Art Exhibition of Drawing, National Art Museum of China，Beijing，China
	Cold Light, Jindadi 1912 Museum, Hefei, China
	The Insistence of Time, Fenghuanghanzhang Art Center，Beijing，China
	Post-Academy, Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China
	Exchange Exhibition of Korea-China Contemporary Art, Pusan，Korea
2015	The Exhibition of Annual of Contemporary Art of China 2014, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum，Beijing，China
	Lantai Reminiscence, Big House，Wuhan，China
	Nonfigurative, Shanghai 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum，Shanghai，China
	The Temperature of History, The 100th Anniversary of the Establishment of CAFA, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai，China
	Wu Wo Liang Wang, Fengmian Art Space，Guangzhou，China
	Like a Flavor——the Exhibition of Four Female Artists, Xuhui Art Gallery，Shanghai，China
	Oriental Stream of Consciousness, Li Art Museum，Changsha，China
	Liberating the Past from the Present:Contemporary Art in China, SZ Art Center，Galleri Astley Museum, Diaghilev Museum of Contemporary Art，Beijing, Sweden，Russia
	Sub-current，Exhibition of Eight Contemporary Artists in Anhui, Jindadi1912 Museum， Hefei，China
2014	White Box 2014 Art& Design, Whitebox Art Center，Beijing，China
	Childhood and Beyond, Times Art Museum，Beijing，China
	Pink Public Option—Contemporary Art Exhibition of Chinese Female Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art Xinjiang，Urumuchi，China
	e-Context-1984, 37.8ARTLAB，Beijing，China
	Tai—Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Shone-Show Gallery，Beijing，China
	Trace of Heart, Trace of hand——Exhibition of Artists’ manuscript, CFC& Wall Art Beijing， China
2013	Voice of the Unseen Chinese Independent Art 1979/Today, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
	Men’s JOKER Crossover Art Exhibition, Today Art Museum，Beijing，China
	Hidden Power, Hong Kong Contemporary Art Museum，Beijing 798 Art District, Beijing， China
	Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk, A.C Art Museum，Beijing，China
	Inspiration from Nature: Plumoon Female Artists Exhibition, Times Art Museum，Beijing, China
	Outside Method, Da Xiang Art Space, Taipei, Taiwan, China
	Breakthrough, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Maine, U.S.A
2012	Time Difference, Hannover Exhibition Centre, Hannover, Germany
	Dust from the Heart:Five Chinese Women Artists and Their Journeys, Pearl Lam Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2011	Absent Identity, Fujian Art Museum, Fujian, China
2010	Reshaping History, China National Convention Center, Beijing, China
2009	Yipai, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Memory of the Muse, Wall Art Museum, Beijing, China
2008	Women’s Work, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, China
	Transforming Women, Osage Gallery, Shanghai, China
	Deep Breath: Chinese Contemporary Female Art Exhibition, Suhe Art, Shanghai, China
	Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Gehua Art Museum, Beijing, China
2006	Temptations Cai Jin and Deng Jianjin Oil Painting Exhibition, Wall Art Museum, Beijing
	Chinese Masters of Contemporary Oil Painting, Wall Art Museum, Beijing
	Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art From China and the US, Williams College Museum of Art，Williamstown，USA
2005	Tomorrow-Never Look Back-Chinese Contemporary Art, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts， Taipei，China
	Chinese Contemporary Youth Art Exhibition, Hangart-7，Salzburg，Austria
	In Honour of ’85: 2005 → 1985, Shanghai Duolun Modern Art Museum，Shanghai，China
	Inter-Tivity: Contemporary Art Exhibition, Today Art Museum，Beijing，China
	Born in China, Goedhuis Contemporary，New York，USA
	Regeneration，Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the US, ASU Art Museum/ Arizona State University Art Museum，Tempe，USA
2004	Lodz Biennale 2004, Poland International Artists Museum，Lodz，Poland
	The First Nominative Exhibition of Fine Arts Literature, Hubei Museum of Art，Hubei，China
2003	The Inverse Mirror, Chambers Fine Art，New York，USA
	The Art of Contemporary Asian Women, Fisher Studio Arts Building，Bard College， Annandale-on-Hudson，New York，USA
2002	Femininity in Contemporary Asian Art, Lehman College Art Gallery，New York，USA
	The 1st Guangzhou Triennial – Reinterpretation : A Decade of Experimental Art (1990-2000), Guangdong Museum of Art，Guangzhou，China
2001	Towards a New Image: Twenty Years of Contemporary Chinese Painting, National Art Museum, Beijing; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou; Chengdu Art Museum, Chengdu
	Confessions: Contemporary Art by Asian Women, the Hammond Museum, New York, USA
	Reconfiguration, The Central Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Beijing, China
	Masterpieces，Made by Chinese, Asian Fine Arts，Berlin，Germany
2000	The 20th Century Chinese Oil Painting, National Art Museum of China，Beijing，China
	The Zone of Age and Myth: Between Tenderness and Tension, Taipei Fine Arts Museum， Taipei，China
1999	Transience: Chinese Art at the End of the 20th Century, The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, the University of Chicago, Chicago; University of Oregon Museum,Eugene; USA
	Koln-Beijing，Beijing-Koln, Gothaer Kunstforum, Cologne, Germany
1998	Half of the Sky: Chinese Women Artists, Women’s Museum, Bonn, Germany
	Century: Woman Art Show, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
1997	Against the Tide, The Bronx Museum, New York, USA
	Women and Flowers, Art Gallery of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
	Contemporary Art by Chinese Women Artists, Department of Fine Arts, University of California, Berkeley, USA
1996	China–Aktuelles Aus 15 Atelier, China Art Festival, Munich, Germany
	Reality:Present and Future, International Art Palace Beijing, China
	Inaugural Show of Chinese Oil-Painting Society, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
	96′ Seoul International Art Fair, Seoul, South Korea
1995	Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition, Goteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden
	Women’s Approach to Chinese Contemporary Art, Beijing Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Exhibition of Chinese Female Artists, Beijing Art Museum, Beijing, China
	The 3rd National Exhibition of Chinese Oil Paintings, National Art Museum of China，Beijing， China
	Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, Sino-Japanese Friendship Hall，Fukuoka，Japan
1994	The Annual Exhibition of Works of the Artists Nominated by Art Critics(Oil Painting), National Art Museum of China，Beijing，China
	Current Trends in Chinese Oil Painting, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
	Works by Ten Women Artists form China，Hong Kong and Taiwan, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, China
	The 2nd National Exhibition of Chinese Oil Paintings, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
1993	China’s New Art，Post-89, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, China; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London, England (1994); Chicago Museum of Arts，Chicago，USA (1997)
1992	Contemporary Chinese Oil Paintings, Beijing Worker’s Cultural Palace, Beijing, China
1991	The 24th Festival International de La Peinture, Cognes-SurMer, Paris, France
	China’s First Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings, Beijing History Museum, Beijing, China
1987	China’s First Exhibition of Oil Paintings, Shanghai Art Museum，Shanghai，China
1985	Youth Year Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China