Sui Jianguo
Born in Qingdao, Shandong province in 1956, Sui Jianguo studied sculpture at the Shandong Academy of Fine Arts, then at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he now serves as a professor and director of the sculpture department. World famous for his dinosaurs and his Mao jackets, Sui Jianguo has exhibited all over the world and his works are present in many public collections
Works
SUI JIANGUO – THE SLEEP OF REASON
Legacy Mantle
Made in China, 2002
Biography
Born in Qingdao, Shandong province in 1956, Sui Jianguo studied sculpture at the Shandong Academy of Fine Arts, then at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he now serves as a professor and director of the sculpture department. World famous for his dinosaurs and his Mao jackets, Sui Jianguo has exhibited all over the world and his works are present in many public collections.
Born in Qingdao, Shandong province in 1956, Sui Jianguo studied sculpture at the Shandong Academy of Fine Arts, then at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he now serves as a professor and director of the sculpture department. World famous for his dinosaurs and his Mao jackets, Sui Jianguo has exhibited all over the world and his works are present in many public collections.
Sui Jianguo’s sculpture represents introspection in the artistic process in modern China: whether it be realism in his early works or classical forms, in his sequel Mao “jackets” and “dinosaurs”, discussed here; his sculptures essentially translate what the “idols” of the past represent, what they really are in the unconscious of the contemporary Chinese people.
Sui Jianguo has participated in numerous international exhibitions, both individually and collectively, for example at the Beeldenaan Zee Museum in The Hague, Netherlands, Today’s Art Museum in Beijing, China, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila, Philippines as well as the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.
Comment
Director of the sculpture department of the Academy of Fine Arts, it is thanks to him that abstract and conceptual sculpture was accepted by the Chinese authorities. Going beyond the borders of China, he is probably one of the most promising sculptors of the 21st century. By sculpting his domed jacket in the image of Mao Zedong, he wants to associate each compatriot in his process of introspection.
This jacket wanted by Sun Yatsen in 1911 and worn by millions of people in China symbolizes the paternity of a period that marked an entire generation, an extraordinarily powerful cultural symbol.
More recently, his red dinosaur (a symbol of both imperial and communist China) bears the words “Made in China” engraved on the chest, a nod to the plastic toys of the beginning of China’s economic boom, a symbol of this times of a thousand-year-old China awakening to contemporaneity.
Exhibitions
Career
Solo exhibitions
2024-2025
Dimensions Indefinitely Variable: Sui Jianguo, TAG Art Museum, Qingdao, China
2023
Sui Jianguo: New Works, Pace, Hong Kong, China
Solo exhibitions
2024-2025
Dimensions Indefinitely Variable: Sui Jianguo, TAG Art Museum, Qingdao, China
2023
Sui Jianguo: New Works, Pace, Hong Kong, China
2021
Sui Jianguo: Emptiness in Hand, 33 Contemporary Art Center, Guangzhou, China
2019-20
Phenomenon & Suchness: Sui Jianguo, One Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Echo of System: Sui Jianguo, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
Sui Jianguo: Element, COFCO Landmark Tower B Lobby, Beijing, China
2017
Fragmenting Trace, Big House Contemporary Art Centre, Wuhan, China
Trace, Pace Beijing, Beijing, China
The Birth of Legacy Mantle, Art of 6 Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2015
Touchable, Pace Beijing, China
2014
Sui Jianguo, L.A. Louver, Venice, USA
Sui Jianguo: Blind Portraits, Public Art Fund, New York, USA
2013
Sui Jianguo: Physical Trace, Galerie Scheffel, Frankfurt, Germany
Sui Jianguo: Physical Trace 2, Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg, Germany
2012
Sui Jianguo’s Discus Thrower, The British Museum, London, United Kingdom
Sui Jianguo, Pace Beijing, 798, Beijing, China
Restrained Power: Sui Jianguo’s Work, MOCA, Singapore
2011
The Hague Under Heaven – Sui Jianguo Sculpture, Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, Netherlands
2010
Made in China by Sui Jianguo, Art Issue Projects, Beigao District, Beijing, China
2009
Motion/Tension: New Work by Sui Jianguo, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2008
Art Time Square-Exhibition of works by Sui Jianguo, Hong Kong, China
Revealing Traces, Joyart, Beijing, China
2007
Dian Xue – Sui Jianguo Art Works, OCAT, Shanghai, China
Speeding up – Sui Jianguo Space Video, Arario, Beijing, China
2005
Sui Jianguo: The Sleep of Reason, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
1999
Clothes Veins Studying, Passage Gallery, Beijing, China
1997
You Meet the Shadow of One Hundred Years, Melbourne, Australia
1996
Exhibition of Works by Sui Jianguo, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
1995
Deposit and Fault, New Delhi Culture Centre, India
1994
Remember of Space, CAFA Gallery, Beijing, China
Exhibition of Works by Sui Jianguo, Hanart Gallery, Taipei, Taïwan
Group exhibitions (selection)
2025
L.A. Louver Celebrates 50 Years, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
ARTnews 2025 Annual Exhibition: The Essence of Shanghai, The Bund City Hall Plaza, Shanghai, China
2024-25
Ennova Art Biennale vol. 01, Ennova Art Museum, Langfang, China
Splendors of the Sun and Moon, Jiushi Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2023-24
Embark·Hang: Central Art Museum Opening Exhibition, Central Art Museum, Hangzhou, China,
Portraits: The Tenth Anniversary of the Long Museum, Long Museum, Shanghai, China
2022-23
(De)Constructing Ideology: The Cultural Revolution and Beyond, Wende Museum, Culver City, CA
The Language of Mushrooms: The Interspecies Internet, Contemporary Gallery Kunming, Kunming, China
2020-21
45 at 45: L.A Louver Celebrates 45 Years with 45 Artists, L.A Louver, Venice, CA
Signs, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2019-20
Allure of Matter: Material Art from China, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA
Beyond Boundaries, West Wing Gallery, Somerset House, The Strand, London, UK
2018
Tradition is the Power for Invention – CAFA Centennial Works of Teacher Exhibition, The Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, London, UK,
Sui Jianguo and Richard Deacon, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA,
Yukihito Tabata with Chinese Contemporary Art 1989, Beijing Tokyo Art Projects, Beijing, China
2017
Red Attack, Ethan Cohen Gallery, NY, USA
Sélection Loft, Galerie Loft, Paris, France
2016
Blackness in Abstraction, Pace Gallery, NY, USA
Talking on Paper, Pace Gallery, Beijing, China
A New Dynasty- Created In China, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
Art Contemporain Chinois- Loft Selection, Galerie Loft, Paris, France
2015
Situated in Future/Beyond Today, Today’s Art Museum, Beijing, China
Objecthood, Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2014
Post Pop: East Meets West, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Busan Biennale 2014, Busan Museum of Art, Busan, South Korea
Future Returns: Contemporary Art From China, Eli and Edythe Broad Art
Museum, Michigan State University, USA
2013
Blickachsen 9: Sculpture in Bad Homburg and Frankfurt RheinMain, Frankfurt, Germany
Space Drawings, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands
2012
The 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale: Accidental Message, OCAT, Shenzhen, China
Special Show for The 1st International Festival of Contemporary Sculpture, Kyiv, Ukraine
2011
Leaving Realism Behind, Pace Beijing, Beijing, China
Start from the Horizon-Chinese Contemporary Sculpture Since 1978, Sishang Art Museum, Beijing, China
Ideology and Manifestation, Wenxuan Art Museum, Chengdu, China
The 4th Guangdong Trinnale, GMOA, China
Super-Orgnasm-CAFAM Biennale, Beijing, China
Collection History-China New Art, MOCA Chengdu, China
Martell Artists of the Year, Pékin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, China
2010
Made in Pop Land, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Séoul, South Korea
The city of forking paths, The sculpture project of the Expo Boulevard, World Expo Shanghai, China
The constructed dimension – 2010 Chinese contemporary art invitational exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
Sculpture – Sui Jianguo and his students, A4 gallery, Chengdu, China
2009
The home court, White Box Museum of Art, 798, Beijing, China
Beijing—Havana The Revolution of Art, The National Museum of Fine Arts, Habana, Cuba
I Can Believe Chinese Contemporary Artists’ Exhibition & Star Art Museum Opening Exhibition
Embrace Suzhou – Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, Suzhou Art Museum, China
09 Art Changsha, Hunan Museum, Changsha, China
Conversation With Chinese Contemporary Sculpture Milennium Park, Chicago, USA
State Legacy-Research in the visualisation of political history, MMU, Manchester, UK
Spectacle—to each his own, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taïwan
2008
Art and Chinese Revolution, Asia Society, New York, USA
Beyond-Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, Chatsworth, UK
Conciliatory-Poznan Biennalia, Poznan Art Museum, Poznan, Poland
Come Over, Li Space, Caochangdi, Beijing, China
Hanging in Sky Drifting on Surface, Linda Gallery, 798 Beijing, China
Reflective Asia—3rd Nanjing Triennial, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China
Hypallage — The Post-Modern Mode of Chinese Contemporary Art, The OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China
Half – life of a Dream — Contemporary Chinese Art, SFMOMA, USA
Ships at Sea, Henk Visch & Sui Jianguo, C-Space, Beijing, China
New World Order, Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands
Free Fall, Chen Ling Hui Contemporary Space, Beijing, China
Crouching Paper Hidden Dragon, F2 Gallery, Caochangdi, Beijing, China
Hunting Birds, Tang Contemporary, Beijing, China
2007
Energy—Spirit, Body, Material, The First Today’s Documents 2007, Today’s Art Museum, Beijing, China
Forms of Concepts—the reform of concepts of Chinese contemporary Art 1987-2007, Hubei Art Museum, China
Metamorphosis: The Generation of Transformation in Chinese Contemporary Art, Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
Fashion Accidentally, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taïwan
What is Monoha?, B.T.A.P., Beijing, China
Breathe, Jinan, China
Top 10 Chinese Contemporary Sculptors, Asia Art Center, Beijing, China
Chinese Contemporary Socart, The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
We Are Your Future – Special Project for 2nd Moscow Biennale, Russia
2006 City in Progress / Live from Zhang Jiang, Shanghai, China
Double – kick Cracker, Tang Contemporary, Beijing, China
Susi – Future & Fantasy, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Philippines
Absolute Images, Arario Tian, South Korea
China Trade, International Center for Contemporary Asian Art, Vancouver, Canada
Jianghu, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, USA
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
On the Edge, Davis Museum and Culture Center, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA
2005
Beautiful Cynicism, Arario, Beijing, China
Ten Thousand Years, Postmodern City, Beijing, China
To Each His Own, Zero-Space 798, Beijing, China
Xianfeng! Chinese Avant-garde sculpture, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, The Netherlands
Transportation Box, Jianwai SOHO, Beijing, China
On the Edge – Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West, Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, USA
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
2004
Now – Conceptual Estate in Shanghai, Shanghai, China
The First Nominative Exhibition of Fine Art Literature, Wuhan, China
Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney, Australia
Gods Becoming Men, Frissiras Museum, Athènes, Greece
What Is Art – Two Wrongs Can Make One Right, Xian Art Museum, Xian, China
Playing With Chi Energy, House of Shiseido, Tokyo, Japan
Exposition des sculptures chinoises, Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, France
Busan Sculpture Project, Busan, South Korea
Light As Fuck, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway
Beyond Boundaries, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
Celebrating 20 Years of Hanart, TZ Gallery, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
Art on the Beach, Galerie Enrico Navarra, and Hanart TZ Gallery, St. Tropez, France
Future and Past, International Center of Photography, New York, USA
Lili Waiwai, Lyon Contemporary Art Museum, Lyon, France
2003 Open Sky, Duolun Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Open Time, National Gallery, Beijing, China
Triennial for Contemporary Art by the Sea, Beaufort, PMMK, Museum of Modern Art, Oostend, Belgium
Today’s Chinese Art, Century Alter Art Museum, Beijing, China
2002
Artists of the Ideal, Palazzo Forti, Vérone, Italy
Paris-Pekin, Espace Cardin, Paris, France
The First Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, Chine
2001 Open 2001, Lido, Venice, Italy
Transplantation in Situ, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Between Earth and Heaven: New Classical Movements in the Art of Today, Museum of Modern Art, Oostend, Belgium
Art on the Beach, Nice, France
2000
Chinese Sculpture International Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Shanghai Biennial 2000, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Sharing Exoticisms–Contemporary Art Lyon Biennial, Lyon, France
1999
Transcience – Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century, The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, USA; tour to the University of Oregon Museum of Art, Eugene, United States; and at The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA
1999
Mao: From Icon to Irony – The Cult of Mao Zedong from the mid 1940’s to the 1990’s, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
The 14th International Asia Art Exhibition, Asia Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Les Champs De La Sculpture 2000, Paris, France
Avant-Gardes En Chine, Galerie Loft, Paris, France
The Second International Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
1998
The 1st Annual Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, He Xiangning Art Museum, China
1997
A Point of Contact – Korean, Chinese, and Japanese Contemporary Art, Daegu Culture Centre, Daegu, South Korea
Dream of China – 97’ Chinese Contemporary Art, Yan Huang Art Museum, Beijing, China
1996
From the East of Urasia – Japan, Korea, and China, Installation & Painting 1996, Kodama Gallery, Osaka, Japan
The First Academic Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Artists, Hong Kong Art Centre, Hong Kong
1995
From the Central Kingdom: Chinese Avant-Garde Artists, Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain
Women Site, Beijing Contemporary Art Gallery, Beijing, China
1994
Substance and Creativity – Asian Arts and Crafts from its Origin to Present Day, Hiroshima, Japan
1993
China’s New Art, Post-1989, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong; tour at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada; University of Oregon Art Museum, Eugene, USA; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, USA; Salina Arts Center, USA; Chicago Cultural Center, USA; San Jose Museum of Art, USA
Mao Goes Pop, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Sui Jianguo and W.K.P Sculpture Exhibition, Chinese Modern Art Centre, Osaka, Japan
News
For the "Art Saint-Germain des Prés" event, Galerie Loft presents the group exhibition Contemporary Chinese Art.
Publications
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