Duan Jianwei

Born in 1961 in Xuchang, Henan Province, Duan Jianwei graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Henan University in 1981 and currently lives and works in Beijing. In over thirty years of practice, Duan Jianwei has been through a transition from the narrative of the Central Plains with nostalgic sentiments to the realization of the nature of painting towards conscious painting and metaphysical shaping of the sensibility. The character’s rich narratives and the distinctive dynamics in his early works are constantly refined and tempered over time, creating both detailed and slightly abstract figures with a sense of ambiguity, which have been transformed into the deposition of history, culture, customs and aesthetics in the present time and place. This ambiguity not only offers a space for contemplation but also addresses the complexity of realism in China. In Duan’s paintings, religious figures in medieval frescoes and statues in temples and grottoes are intermingled with the customs of the Central Plains; folklore and worship, the vernacular and the sublime are in parallel here. Time as the river and the region as soil constitute the two coordinates of Duan Jianwei’s paintings, remaining valid over time in constant change.

1961 Born in Xuchang, Henan province.

1981 Graduated from Henan University with a bachelor’s degree.

Teaches at College of Fine Arts, Capital Normal University.

Solo Exhibitions

2025 Duan Jianwei: The Third One of Storytellers, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China

2023 Duan Jianwei: The Departure to Xindian, Long Museum, Shanghai, China

2020 Life: Duan Jianwei, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2019 Central Plains: Duan Jianwei, Hunan Museum, Changsha, China

2016 Fruits of Earth: Duan Jianwei, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2014 Appearance – Solo Exhibition of Duan Jianwei, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2013 Solo Exhibition of Duan Jianwei, Chinese Academy of Oil Painting, Beijing, China

2005 Little Boy: Duan Jianwei Oil Painting Exhibition, Visual Horizon Gallery, Shanghai, China

Group Exhibitions

2025 The Shadow of Reading: Art in the Pages, Epoch Art Museum, Wenzhou, China

2024 Cradle, ARR Gallery, Hangzhou, China

2023   Flows of Inspiration: The Image Evolution of Landscape and its contemporary turn, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong, China

2022   Myth of Figures, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

Beijing Biennial 2022, Friendship Arts Community, Beijing, China

2021 The Old Prince, Star Gallery, Beijing, China

2020 Being of Evils, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2019 Light Profoundness: The Worldlet of East Asia Artists, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2018 The Clouded Peach Blossom Spring: Selected Works of Chinese Contemporary Artists as Exemplars, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

          Déjà vu: Painting as the Art of Signification, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

          I Come from the Mountains, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland

2017 Aura and Vitality: 12 Oriental Aesthetic Samples in Contemporary Art, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shenzhen, China

2016 A Ride to Combine, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

          RETURN: Poetic Dwelling in Contemporary Art, PIFO Gallery, Beijing, China

          Too Loud a Solitude: Stalkers of Chinese Contemporary Art, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2015 Painting, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

          Image – Study on the performance of Chinese contemporary oil painting, Chinese Academy of Oil Painting, Beijing, China

          The Shape of Sketch, Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’an, China

2013 Keeping Pace with The Times – The 50th Anniversary Exhibition of Achievements of the National Art Museum of China, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2012 Opening-up And Harmony – Exhibition of China Contemporary Art, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

          Traveling in Central Plains, National Museum of China, Beijing, China

          The West of the Mountains, 6 Art, Hangzhou, China

2009 Artworks by the Teachers from the Academy of Fine Arts of Capital Normal University,  National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2008 Oil Paintings by Duan Zhengqu and Duan Jianwei, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2007 The Language of Personality – The Newly-collected Oil Painting from National Art Museum of China, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2006 The First Yearbook of China Contemporary Art, The China Millennium Monument, Beijing, China

          The Image of Wuyi – Sino-German Artists Exchange Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China

          Farmer to Farmer, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2004 The Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition in New Era, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2003 Chinese Art Today, The China Millennium Monument, Beijing, China

2001 Research and Exceed – Exhibition of Small Oil Paintings, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

          Insects Awaken – On the Paper, Zhengzhou, China

2000 China Oil Paintings in The 20th Century, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

          The Academic Invitational Exhibition for The Foundation of the Contemporary Art Institute of the Academy of Fine Arts of the Capital Normal University, Beijing, China

1999 Exhibition of the Contemporary Small Oil Paintings by Hundreds of People, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

          Artworks of the Third World from Northeastern Asia, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul,  South Korea

          Artworks of Six People, Art Museum of Shandong College of Art, Jinan, Shandong, China

          Representing the People, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, UK

1997 Oil Painting Exhibition of Chinese Youth Artists, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

          Exhibition of Chinese Art, Shanghai, China

1996 The First Exhibition of China Oil Painting Society, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

          The Portrait of Chinese Oil Painting in the Last Hundred Years, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

          Oil Paintings by Duan Zhengqu and Duan Jianwei, Beijing International Art Gallery, Beijing, China

1995 Charm of Representation, Beijing, China

          The 20th Anniversary Exhibition of the Jiangsu Monthly, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China

          The 3rd Chinese Annual Exhibition of Oil Painting, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

1994 The Invitational Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Oil Painting, Art Museum of the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

          The 2nd Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

1993 Oil Painting Exhibition of Four People, Gallery of The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

1992 Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Painting, Hong Kong, China

1991 Oil Paintings by Duan Zhengqu and Duan Jianwei, Gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

          The First Chinese Annual Oil Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

1985 The Advancing Chinese Youth Fine Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China