WANG Keping

Wang Keping is one of the most eminent members of Stars Art Group (xing xing 星星画会) , a foundational movement of the contemporary Chinese avant-garde active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His wood sculptures blackened by fire and were firstly inspired by totem and by idols who reminded of folkloric tutelary figures in north of China and in Korean. Then his creation turned to the simple formes with the themes : women wearing a bun, kiss/couple, bird, masculine figures with tail, and a pair of teat. The simplification and purification were embodied in his sculptures, moreover, in the best cases reminded of Constantin Brancusi’s works.

Biography

Wang Keping is one of the most eminent members of Stars Art Group (xing xing 星星画会) , a foundational movement of the contemporary Chinese avant-garde active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Wang’s wood sculptures and his early theatre play uncovered the political opponents’  detention conditions, which also gave rise to sharp polemics in the presse in Taiwan and in China.

Presented by Hanart Gallery in Taiwan and Tokyo Gallery in Tokyo very early, Wang achieved great success with the collectors and the support of press.

His sculpture “Silence” of wood and then of bronze is an icon in the beginning of Chinese Avant-Garde and were reproduced many times.

Wang Keping played a decisive role in Post-89 Exhibition (1992) in Hong Kong. It was him who selected the artists with Li Xianting, and presented him to Johnson Chang.

Married with a French living in Beijing, he benefited from a relate immunity, he yet got troubles. Therefore, he immigrated to France in 1984. In Paris, he got to know Gao Xingjian, the future winner of Nobel Price for literature.

His wood sculptures blackened by fire and were firstly inspired by totem and by idols who reminded of folkloric tutelary figures in north of China and in Korean. Then his creation turned to the simple formes with the themes : women wearing a bun, kiss/couple, bird, masculine figures with tail, and a pair of teat. The simplification and purification were embodied in his sculptures, moreover, in the best cases reminded of Constantin Brancusi’s works.

Asked by the Ministry of Culture (like several sculptors at that time), Wang Keping created a large portrait of wood of François Miterrand.

He was one of the artists who were invited for the exhibition “Champs de la Sculpture” on the Champs Elysées (Paris) in 1999.

Career

EXPOSITIONS PERSONNELLES

2016

Wang Keping, Galerie Zürcher, Paris

2015

Wang Keping, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong

2014

Musée Cernuschi, dans le cadre d’un partenariat avec Art Paris Art Fair

Wang Keping, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing

2013

Zürcher Studio, New York, USA

2012

Wood Felsh Form Nothingness,10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong

Galerie Dumonteil, Shanghai, Chine

Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France

2011

Artistes chinois à Paris, Musée Cernuschi, Paris, et Seconde Nature au cours de laquelle des sculptures de l’artiste avaient été installées dans le parc Monceau

Eternal Smile, Solo Show, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong

Eternal smile, Solo Show, Galerie Magda Danysz, Paris, France

Eternal smile, Solo Show, Magda Danysz Gallery, Shanghai, Chine

Blooming in the Shadows, Unofficial Chinese Art 1974-1985, China Institute in America, New York, USA

Zürcher Studio, New York, USA

2010

La Chair des forêts, Musée Zadkine, Paris, France

2009

Wang Keping, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong kong

2008

Works from 1979-2006, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, Chine

2007

10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong, Chine (also 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006)

Duhamel Fine Art, Paris France Gallery Lasés, Paris, France

2006

10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Katie de Tilly Contemporary Artists, Hong Kong

Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France

2003

Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France

De Tilly-Blaru Gallery, Hong Kong, Chine

2001

Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France

De Tilly-Blaru Gallery, Hong Kong, Chine

1999

Galerie Jacques Barrère, Paris, France

Galerie de l'IUFM, Lyon, France

Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France

1997

Alison Fine Art, Hong Kong, Chine

Artist in Residence, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

1996

Etan Cohen Gallery, New York, USA

1995

Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France

1994

At Work Gallery, Chicago, USA

Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Francfort, Allemagne

Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Francfort, Allemagne

1993

Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France

Aidekman Art Center, Boston, USA

Chinese Modern Art Center, Osaka, Japon

1992

Salle Saint-Jean, Hôtel de Ville de Paris, France

1991

Galerie Zurcher, Paris, France

Gaalerie Leuenberger, Zürich, Suisse

1990

Galerie Zurcher, Paris, France

Monte Gallery, Tokyo, Japon

Chine Forum, Zürich, Suisse

1989

Museum of Modern Art, Taiwan

1988

Galerie Thomas, Munich, Allemagne

Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France

1987

Art Waves Gallery, New York, USA

1986

Galerie de Graaf, Chicago, USA

Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France

1985

Galerie Gérard Laubie, Paris, France

 

EXPOSITIONS DE GROUPE (sélection)

2016

Face to Face : Regina Bogat, Wang Keping, Zürcher Gallery, New York

2015   

Vide et Plein, Maison Bleu Studio, Paris 2013 Alix Le Méléder - Wang Keping, Galerie Zürcher, Paris 2011           Light Before Dawn, Asia Society Hong Hong touring to Houston Blooming in the Shadows, Unofficial

Chinese Art (1974-1985), Chinese Institute in America New York

Artistes Chinois à Paris, Musée Cernuschi, Paris

2008  

Origin Point, The Stars 30 Years, Today Art Museum, Beijing

China Gold, l’Art contemporain chinois, Musée Maillol, Paris

Go China – Writing on the Wall, Chinese New Realism and Avant-Garde in the eighties and nineties, Groninger Museum, Groningen

2007  

China Contemporary Art : the long march of the Avant-Garde, Contemporary Art Museum, Genova China Onward, The Estella Collection, Chinese Contemporary Art 1966-2006, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhague

2005    

Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg, Kunstmuseum, Bern

The 2nd Annual China International Gallery Exhibition 2005, Beijing, China ; Marlborough Gallery, New York

2004  

Body and Nature, Two Chinese artists, Marlborough Chelsea, New York

Chine, le corps partout ?, Museum of Contemporary Art, Marseille

2002  

French May, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2001

Chine without borders, Goedhuis Contemporary, Sotheby's, New York, USA

Salon de Mars, Galerie Lara Fletcher, Genève, Suisse

2000

Le Corps morcelé, Fondation Daniel et Florence Guerlain, Les Mesnuls, France

Museum of Modern Art, Cheng Du, Chine

Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japon

WeiWei Gallery, Pékin, Chine

Portraits, Figures, Couples and Groups - from the MCAF collection, BizArt, Shanghai, Chine

CAAW, Pékin, Chine

1999

Les Champs de la Sculpture (1970-2000), Champs-Elysées, Paris, France

FIAC, Galerie Zurcher, Paris, France

The Pu-Yeo International Modern Sculpture Symposium, Corée

1998

Musée d'art contemporain, Stuttgart, Allemagne

Michel Goedhuis Gallery, London, Grande Bretagne

1997

National Museum of Art, Pékin, Chine

1996

Face à l'Histoire, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

National Museum of Fine Arts, Pékin, Chine

Ethan Cohen Gallery, New York, ETATS-UNIS

1995

Centro de Arte Santa Monica, Barcelone, Espagne

1994

FIAC, Galerie Zurcher, Paris, France

1993

Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japon

1991

Hommage à Camille Claudel, Villeneuve-sur-Fère, France

1990

Chapelle de la Salpétrière, Paris, France

Hanart Gallery, Hong Kong, Chine

1989

Hanart Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

Hanart 2 Gallery, Hong Kong

The Stars-Group from Pékin, Albany University, New York, USA

Galerie du Forum, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

1988

Blue Hill Cultural Center, New York, USA

Hanart 2 Gallery, Hong Kong, Chine

1987

Cadogan Contemporary Gallery, New York, USA

1986

Painting The Chinese Dream. Chinese Art 30 Years after the Revolution, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass. et Brooklyn Museum, New York, US

Avant-Garde Chinese Art - Pékin/New York, Vassar College Gallery, NY, USA

1984

Carrefour de la Chine, Paris, France

1983

Painting the Chinese Dream - Chinese Art 30 Years after the Revolution, Brooklyn Museum, New York ; Massachusetts; Northampton Smith College Museum of Art, USA

1980

Deuxième exposition du groupe The Stars, National Museum of Fine Arts, Pékin, Chine

1979

Wild, Première exposition du Groupe The Stars, devant National Museum of Fine Arts, Pékin, Chine

 

 

Presse

Wang Keping - Art Auction