Kong Shengqi
Kong Shengqi’s works, carved in wood, soft and clear, bring out of the material fantastic and organic creatures, with round faces and naive features, sometimes almost childish and sometimes terrifying.
Her obvious love for the material that is wood and her way of sculpting particularly evokes the arts of the natives of North America, which can be found in Alaska or on the Inuit lands of Canada.
Works
TRUFFE DE CHINE
Lava dog n°3
Pantomime horse
Volcan
Bilboquet effraie I
Bilboquet effraie II
Biography
Young Chinese artist born in Beijing in 1989, Kong Shengqi chose to settle in France in 2015 after studying architecture in China. She initially followed a second cycle “space design option” at the Institute of Arts in Toulouse before entering École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she obtained a DNSAP with the congratulations of the jury in 2018 and will be part of the admissions jury for the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris the following year. She is also the laureate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris x Altarea project in 2020 and the Beaux-Arts de Paris x Moët Hennessy project, and the Prix Gide – Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2021. She currently lives and works in Paris.
Young Chinese artist born in Beijing in 1989, Kong Shengqi chose to settle in France in 2015 after studying architecture in China. She initially followed a second cycle “space design option” at the Institute of Arts in Toulouse before entering École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she obtained a DNSAP with the congratulations of the jury in 2018 and will be part of the admissions jury for the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris the following year. She is also the laureate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris x Altarea project in 2020 and the Beaux-Arts de Paris x Moët Hennessy project, and the Prix Gide – Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2021. She currently lives and works in Paris.
Kong Shengqi’s works, carved in wood, soft and clear, bring out of the material fantastic and organic creatures, with round faces and naive features, sometimes almost childish and sometimes terrifying.
Her obvious love for the material that is wood and her way of sculpting particularly evokes the arts of the natives of North America, which can be found in Alaska or on the Inuit lands of Canada.
In the “project” report dedicated to her last exhibition, Margaux Brugvin specifies that her sculptures “are thought to be used in forms of invented rituals. One looks through the cavity of a screaming face to discover the slits of two eyes on the other side of the sculpture. For the latter, Kong Shengqi’s sculptures evoke sacred objects, human or animal deities on which the visitor is free to project their own references and interpretations and come to explore “their childhood fascinations and terrors, the mystery of what happens inside bodies, inside every living being, the biological or mystical forces that govern every entity and make up our world of which we do not understand that so few things. »
Exhibitions
Videos
Vidéo
Monumental • Jardin de sculptures
Career
Solo exhibitions
2024
Thérapie de fantaisie, in resonance with the 17th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, Hôtel-Dieu Museum, Belleville-en-Beaujolais, France
2023
Snake in the Grass, Line of Dust, Tobichi Art Museum, Nagano, Japan
2021
Abracadabois, Yishu 8 – Chez Tante Martine, Paris, France
Solo exhibitions
2024
Thérapie de fantaisie, in resonance with the 17th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, Hôtel-Dieu Museum, Belleville-en-Beaujolais, France
2023
Snake in the Grass, Line of Dust, Tobichi Art Museum, Nagano, Japan
2021
Abracadabois, Yishu 8 – Chez Tante Martine, Paris, France
2021
Théâtre d’été, Residency exhibition, Musée Bernard Boesch, Le Pouliguen, France
2018
L’éviscération, La Chapelle de l’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
2017
La peau de la prémonition, Café Héloïse, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
Group exhibitions
2025
Monumental – Jardin de sculptures, Galerie Loft, Fourges, France
2025
Chère Melpomène, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
2025
There is a mountain inside the body, Galerie Taloté, Vannes, France
2024
Trame, Nouvel Institut Franco-Chinois, Lyon, France
2024
MOI & LES AUTRES, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
2024
9th Biennale of Contemporary Art of Champigny, Champigny-sur-Marne, France
2023
Here, by coincidence, Tobichi Art Museum, Tatsuno, Japan
2023
wood·wood·wooden, Galerie Jousse Entreprise, Paris, France
2023
Pièce des vagues, Design Parade, Villa Noailles, Toulon, France
2022
Émergences.fr, Bozar – Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
2022
PARADE, Le PRéàVIE, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
2022
Corps & Âmes, Galerie LOFT, Paris, France
2022
-196 °C, Le PRéàVIE, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
2022
Elle(s), Galerie Loft, Paris, France
2021
Parade Petites bouchées Mouvement La mer, La Maison Fraternelle, Paris, France
2021
Figures, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
Et vous dansez sans le savoir, public outdoor exhibition, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
Avec ma faim de loup, Le PRéàVIE, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
100% l’EXPO, Grande Halle de La Villette, Paris, France
Vivez Joyeux, Le PRÉÀVIE, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
2020
Combination, Villa Kultur Danmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
Théâtre anatomique, Galerie Loft, Paris, France
2019
FELICITÀ, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris
Finale, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
2016
LabBooks – ed. 2016, Les Abattoirs Media Library, Toulouse, France
Residencies & Workshops
2025–2026
Casa de Velázquez, Spain
2024
Vent des Forêts, Meuse, France
2023
Tobichi Art Museum, Nagano, Japan
2022
Association ART 8, Paris, France
2021
Artist-in-residence, Association ART 8, Paris
2021
Artist-in-residence, Musée Bernard Boesch, Le Pouliguen
2017
Woodcut and Printmaking Masterclass, Gutenberg Arts, Danmarks Tekniske Museum, Elsinore
2016
Endeavor, le basculement with Niels Trannois, isdaT, Toulouse
2015
RE – Emprunt, remix et rééditing dans les arts actuels with Joanne Leighton, isdaT & Les Abattoirs, Toulouse
2011
Renouveau du quartier résidentiel d’Akabane, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
2011
Horizontal Town in Seoul, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea
2010
Wood Structure, Universität Stuttgart & CAFA, Beijing, China
2009
Crossing Now – Dialogues for Emergency Architecture, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
Public Commissions
2024
Topinambours Troubadours, site-specific sculptures, Vent des Forêts, Meuse, France
Awards & Grants
2025
Encouragement Prize in Sculpture, Académie des Beaux-Arts, France
2021
Laureate, Beaux-Arts de Paris x Moët Hennessy
Laureate, Prix Gide – Beaux-Arts de Paris
Nominee, Friends of Beaux-Arts de Paris Grant
2020
Laureate, Beaux-Arts de Paris x Altarea
2019
Admissions Jury Member, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris
Education
2018
DNSAP with highest honors, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris
2015–2016
Master’s Cycle (Space Design), Institut supérieur des arts de Toulouse
2012–2014 – Architect, Approach Architecture Studio
2012
Curatorial Assistant to Sébastien Léon Agneessens, UC
News
At the end of this year, we had the honor of attending the Academy of Fine Arts ceremony and witnessing the sculpture prize awarded to Shengqi Kong, whom we have supported since 2021. The sculptor is currently in residence at the Casa de Velázquez. Congratulations to Shengqi Kong.
Discover Shengqi Kong's sculptures in the exhibition "Dear Melpomene" at the Palais des Beaux-Arts. The exhibition interweaves around a hundred works from the collections, by students and studio heads, and international artists, presenting a transhistorical display spanning the period from the late 17th century to the present day. Most have never been exhibited before—recently acquired by the School or produced specifically for the exhibition—while others have not yet circulated within the institutional community.
In resonance with the 17th Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale, the artist Kong Shengqi presents her works at the Hôtel-Dieu museum in Belleville-en-Beaujolais. Exhibition from November 12 to December 24, 2024
