Wang Xiaosong

Wang Xiaosong (Chinese: 王小松; born 1964) is a Chinese artist and professor. Having studied in Beijing and Berlin from 1983 to 1997, Wang uses a confluence of Chinese and Western art in his works.

Early life and education
Wang was born in Wuhan, Hubei in 1964. After the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, his father was involved, while Wang returned to his hometown in Dalian, Liaoning in 1969.

Since childhood, Wang was fond of creating clay figures. His grandfather and grandmother were a craftsman and a housewife, respectively. His mother was a singer in Wuhan. One of his uncles played the piano, another played the flute, and his aunt was a dancer. Wang noted in an interview that his "living environment was full of the arts".

Wang began to learn drawing and calligraphy as a teenager. He attended Wuhan Experimental School, where he "practiced sketching and colors". In 1983, he began his studies at the Central Academy of Arts & Design in Beijing—now known as the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University. Under the supervision of professors Liu Jude and Yu Binnan, Wang majored in Book Decoration, graduating in 1987.

Career
In 1990, Wang moved to Berlin, where he majored in Visual Communication at the Berlin University of the Arts with professors Spohn and Bernhard Boës. In 1992, he settled in Berlin, working as a freelance artist and designer. In 1994, Wang was accepted as a member of the German Artists Society (Association of German Artists).

In 1996, he became a Director and Cultural General Supervisor at the Germany-China Cultural Exchanges Association. From 1997 to 2003, he taught at Victor Gollancz Volkshochschule Steglitz in Berlin. In 2003, he moved back to China and has since served as a doctoral advisor, professor, and dean of the Visual Communication Design Department in the Academy of Fine Arts at Zhejiang University.

In addition to his activities as an artist and lecturer, Wang, in cooperation with Berlin architect Peter Ruge, maintains an architectural office in Hangzhou, where numerous new buildings and urban designs are conceived, organized, and realized.

In 2011, Wang's work, Making Life, was shown at the Venice Biennale. Making Life was conceived as an antithesis to the official Chinese pavilion, and attracted media attention. Wang's works are part of various notable collections, such as the National Art Museum of China, the Ludwig Museum Koblenz, and the Wiener Künstlerhaus. Wang is represented in Europe exclusively by the Schütz Fine Art gallery in Vienna.

Style
Wang is an abstractionist. His style has been described as "breaking the boundary between painting and sculpture".

Themes
Wang's early work occupies an ambivalent middle ground between the abstract (textures, shapes, and patterns) and the figurative (wounds and anthropomorphic figures on the surface). In some of his works, such as Offenes China, cuts similar to those used by Lucio Fontana break the unity of the canvas, giving it a three-dimensional dynamic.

The concepts of generation and decease are central in Wang's oeuvre, which becomes political when it addresses overpopulation, mass control, and uniformity.

In Wang's later works, such as Ohne Titel (blau), these themes remain at the center of his oeuvre. However, for the artist, there is no more need to rely on representative symbols of birth and annihilation, such as cuts and people.

Selected exhibitions

 * Art Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2019
 * Art & Antique Hofburg Wien, Vienna, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2018
 * FAIR FOR ART VIENNA, Vienna, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2018
 * Art & Antique Hofburg Wien, Vienna, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2017
 * Art & Antique Residenz Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2016
 * Art Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2016
 * WIKAM Fair at the Künstlerhaus Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2015
 * Art & Antique Hofburg Wien, Vienna, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2015
 * Art & Antique Residenz Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2015
 * Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair, London, UK, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2015
 * Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair, London, UK, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2014
 * LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair, London, UK, Schütz Fine Art, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2014
 * ART.FAIR Köln, Cologne, Germany, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2014
 * Art Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2014
 * Art Beijing, Art Solo 14, Taipei, 2014
 * China Arte Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil, 2014
 * Wang Xiaosong, Solo Exhibition, Pine's Art Gallery, Taipei, 2013
 * Unruly Ants, Künstlerhaus Wien, Vienna, Austria, 2012-2013
 * Unruly Ants, Pallazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, Italy, 2012-2013
 * Unruly Ants, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany, 2012-2013
 * Unruly Ants, Kunsthalle St. Annen, Lübeck, Germany, 2012-2013
 * Art & Antique Residenz Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria, Schütz Fine Art-Chinese Department, 2012
 * 54. Biennale dell’Arte 2011, Venice, Italy, 2011
 * Empty Layer: Wang Xiaosong, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China, 2009
 * Interaction: Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Oil Paintings, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan, China, 2008
 * Mix & Match Vision: Invitation for 2008, Contemporary Art Communication across Taiwan Straits, Wu Jiao Chao 800 Art Space, Shanghai, China, 2008
 * Exhibition of HD Schrader & Wang Xiaosong, Art Studio, Hamburg, Germany, 2007
 * Art Beijing 2007, Beijing, China, 2007
 * „Return“; Mountains and Rivers: A Tour of Exhibitions of Contemporary Chinese and German Artists, Lübeck Museum, Lübeck, Germany, 2007
 * Imagery Mt. Wuyi: The Debut Interactive Creation of Chinese, Vis-a-vis German Artists, International Travelling Exhibitions, Sanshang, Art Beijing, Shanghai Art Museum, China, 2006
 * Pressure and Power in Changeable Era, International Art Camp in Song Village, Beijing, China, 2006
 * Imagery Mt. Wuyi: Exhibition of the debut interactive creation of Chinese vis-a-vis German Artists, Villages in Mt. Wuyi, Wuyi Mountain Villa, Fujian, China, 2005
 * Not Dawn Yet, The Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China, 2005
 * 10th National Artworks Exhibition, Beijing, China, 2004
 * 19th Warsaw International Biennial of Posters, Warsaw, Poland, 2004
 * Kamakura Geijutsu-kan, Kamakura Museum, Kamakura, Japan, 2002
 * International Biennial of New Watercolor Paintings, Kunststation, Kleinsassen, Germany, 2001
 * Open Studio, Nord Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2000
 * Allegories of the Soul, Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin, Germany, 2000
 * Allegories of the Soul, Larissa Contemporary Art Centre, Larissa, Greece, 1999
 * International Biennial of New Watercolor Paintings, Kunststation, Kleinsassen, Germany, 1999
 * Five Artists from China, Buch Messe Leipzig, Germany, 1999
 * Tell Us No Tales, Kulturinsel Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 1999
 * Exhibition, Galerie Just Art, Berlin, Germany, 1998
 * Art Initiative, C4 Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 1998
 * Celestial Axis, Prisma-Haus Berlin. Artist and Organizer, Berlin, Germany, 1998
 * Color and Vision, Werkstatt der Kultur, Berlin, Germany, 1998
 * Side by Side: Chinese Artists in Berlin, Artist and Organizer, Berlin, Germany, 1997
 * Exhibition in Robert-Koch-Institut Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 1995
 * Painting and Chinese Ink Drawings, Ausstellungshalle Deidesheim, Deidesheim, Germany, 1994
 * First National Exhibition of Fine Arts and Sports, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China, 1986
 * The 10th National Artworks Exhibition, Beijing, China, 1986

Selected works

 * Eruption 1, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 85 x 123 cm, 2017
 * Ohne Titel (blau), Oil and acrylic on canvas, 95 x 78 cm, 2016
 * Untitled, Oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, 2014
 * Offenes China, Oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm, 2012
 * Peristaltik, Oil on canvas, 200 x 200 cm, 2011