Xia Yu

Xia Yu was born in Anhui, China, in 1981, graduated from the Third Studio of the Oil Painting Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2004, and currently lives and works in Beijing. As an important artist of the post-80s generation, the personal life trajectory of Xia Yu and his generation inevitably finds a parallel reference in his paintings. From small town youth to the new urban middle class, from family to gender relation and then to the workplace, Xia Yu’s works, since his graduation from CAFA, have closely followed and reflected the lives of ordinary people, with mundane helplessness and inadequacy, the typical happiness and joy. The figures have always been characterized by the artist in a very localized manner, with plump faces, delicate facial features, and unperturbed expressions, revealing a gentle and respectful nature that is difficult to distinguish between an innate disposition and a product of discipline. In the various scenes set up by Xia Yu, whether everyday or dramatic, these figures often manifest either elegant or witty physique, disclosing both of their ease and haste. These already subtle and imperceptible emotions are further softened and diluted by the artist’s signature tempera technique, converging the similar faces into a portrait of the majority that belongs to an era of China’s most rapid development.

1981 Born in Anhui Province, China

2004 Graduated from China Central Academy of Fine Arts, BA in Oil Painting

Currently lives and works in Beijing

个展

2025 Xia Yu: Speed of Light, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2024 Xia Yu: Golden Hour, Kunsthalle K11 Art & Cultural Centre, Hong Kong, China

2023 Xia Yu: Oncoming, West Bund Art Center, Shanghai, China

Xia Yu: Glittering Light and Sunken Jade Solo, Song Art Museum, Beijing, China

2021 Xia Yu: Here and Now, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2019 Xia Yu: Subjunctive Mood, Hive Center for Contemporary Art (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China

2017 Xia Yu: Orchard, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2015 Narrative: Xia Yu Solo Exhibition, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2014 New Youth: Works by Xia Yu, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2013 Old Paintings: Xia Yu’s Solo Exhibition, Chinese Academy of Oil Painting, Beijing, China

Forgotten Memories: Xia Yu’s Solo Exhibition, Line Gallery, Beijing, China

2011 Awkward: Works of Xia Yu, Line Gallery, Beijing, China

Xia Yu’s Solo Exhibition, 798 Times Space, Beijing, China

群展

2026 The Discourse of Matter: An Exploration Exhibition on Painting Materials and Language in Painting, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2025 A False Awakening, Ningbo Museum of Art, Ningbo, China

2024 Centre Anywhere, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China

A Cloud in Trousers: Painting Today, West Bund Museum, Shanghai, China

Picture of the Post 80s Generation: Generational Leap, Tank Shanghai, Shanghai, China

Boundless Reverie: Chinese Savoire-Faire and Contemprorary Art, Kunsthalle K11 Art & Cultural Centre, Hong Kong, China

One and All: New Artistic Styles of Contemporary Painting, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2023 PORTRAITS: The Tenth Anniversary of The Long Museum, Long Museum (West Bund), Shanghai, China

Dreamscape Estuary, Unit London, London, UK

Bordercrossing: Possibilities and Interactions, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China

Silhouette of Splendors, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China

Crossing Frontiers, Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Tel Aviv, Israel

Annular Vacuum Chamber, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China

2022 2022 Beijing Biennial, Beijing Friendship Store, Beijing, China

Warm Current: Chinese& Japanese & South Korean Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Powerlong Museum, Shanghai, China

Wizard, Craftsman and Time Traveler, Yi Art Institute, Hefei, China

Appeal to the Infinite Within, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2021 A Couple of: The Dual-mechanism of the New Generation of Asian Artists, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2020 Shape of Lovers, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

The Salvation of Shahrazad: Memo of the New Generation Painting, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

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

2019 Light Profoundness: The Worldlet of East Asian 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

Saudade – Irretrievable Place in Time, Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal

Oriental Peach Valley: Contemporary Chinese Art with Sources of the Traditional Oriental Aesthetics, Leipzig Spinnerei Art District, Leipzig, Germany

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

2017 Y23-Hina’s Scroll, SZ Art Center, Beijing, China

Full of Tigers on the Roof, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shenzhen, China

2016 A Ride to Combine: Hive’s Special Exhibition 2016, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

Painting as Strait Gate: Post 80s Artists Invitation Exhibition, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

Over-Painting: Mitigating the Dilemma of Contemporary Art, Whitebox Art Center, Beijing, China

Unrealities in the Reality: The intellectual dimension of daily life, Boxes Art Space, Shenzhen, China

Cross Thinking, Triumph Art Space, Beijing, China

2012 Exploding, 2012 China Young Artist Project Exhibition, China International Exhibition Center, Beijing, China

Excavation & Discovery: The 3rd Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition of the Newcomers, Chinese Academy of Oil Painting, Beijing, China

Spirit and Honesty: Exhibition of Sketch and Copy, Chinese Academy of Oil Painting, China

2011 Whisper: Summer Collection of Line Gallery, Line Gallery, Beijing, China

Spring Chill: Contemporary Art Exhibition, LDX Contemporary Art Center, Beijing, China

Art Archives Of the 80’s Generation (1), Song Zhuang Art Center, Beijing, China