Duan Jianwei

Duan Jianwei’s artistic creation began with the intentional selection of the community of Midland region as the protagonists of his paintings, and he has been making schematic analyses of images in art history since the 1990s. After a journey of over thirty years, his works incorporate the stylistic treatment of the early Renaissance, while effectively stripping away the religious solemnity and internalising the classical atmosphere of the secular and everyday with a sense of ritual that lasts forever. It can be said that Duan’s works portray the inner roots and aesthetic characteristics of Chinese nationhood. In Duan’s works, the artist has intentionally or unintentionally incorporated some symbolic elements, which have been depicted over a long period of time not only because of the need for the artist to constantly analyse the inner workings of the form from a pictorial perspective. It is also an implicit expectation that the artist will continue to look back at the past, at his homeland, and then move more deeply into his own internal world.

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

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

2021 Spring Fever, Platform China, 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