Kong Qian

As the foundation curriculum of the Academy, the Soviet system of art naturally became the object for the young Kong Qian to both study and question. After his graduation, Kong Qian kept his critical thinking towards the academic criteria of art. Meanwhile, he started to absorb the essence of Western Modernism as well as Chinese traditional folk art, which served as the basis of his individual view on drawings afterward. Since the latter half of the 1980s, with the development of skills in drawings as well as unexpected changes of the outside world, Kong Qian was pushed to pursue insight into life consciousness. He kept his subjective modification of figurative characters, dug into the mental state of the depicted ones, and generated even more curious figures, the strangeness, and abnormality of which reached its peak in the 1990s.

1956 Born in Tianjin, a native of Shandong Province

1982 Graduated with BA from Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts

1982-1985 Worked in Tianjin University Architecture Branch School

1998 Attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp in Belgium for a scholar exchange program

1986 to now Serves as postgraduate professor of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Oil Painting Department

Solo Exhibitions

2019 A Vision of the Times: Kong Qian’s Road of Sketch (1973-2019), Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2017 Jinmen in Evolution-Kong Qian Solo Exhibition, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2016 Off Time: Thirty Years of Paintings by Kong Qian (1983-2016), Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

2015 Sketch of Life: Kong Qian solo exhibition, Distance Gallery, Tianjin, China

2012 Twenty Eight Pieces of Oil Painting, The Museum of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin, China

2002 Kong Qian’s Sketch Solo Exhibition, COFCO Plaza, Beijing, China

1999 Kong Qian’s Sketch Art, COFCO Plaza, Beijing, China

1998 Kong Qian’s Sketch Solo Exhibition, The Museum of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin, China

Group Exhibitions

2019 Shapes of Expression-Exhibition of Works by Teachers from the Oil Painting Department of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2018 Déjà vu: Painting as the Art of Signification, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China

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

          HISTORICODE: Scarcity & Supply, The 3rd Nanjing International Art Festival, Nanjing, China

2015 Chinese Spirit, Chinese Academy of Oil Painting & Tianjin Art Museum, Tianjin, China

2014 Independent Regiment: Eight People Exhibition, Distance Gallery, Tianjin, China

2013 2012-2013 Paper Painting  Span Years, Tianjin Exhibition Hall, Tianjin, China

2010 Cross Boundary: Art Exhibition, Cultural and Creative Industries, Tianjin, China

          Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts and Keimyung University Group Exhibition, Tianjin, China

          “Summer Davos” in Asia Art Exhibition, Tianjin, China

          China Art Academies Group Exhibition, Shangshang Museum, Beijing, China

2009 The Same Goal, Different Forms: Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Teachers Paintings Collection, The National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2008 China: Paper Painting Exchange Exhibition with Belgium, Antwerp, Belgium

          Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Exhibition of The National Art Museum of China, The National Art Museum of China, Tianjin, China

2007 China: Paper Printing Exchange Exhibition with Belgium, The Museum of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin, China

2004 Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts and Burg Giebichenstein Hochschule für Kunst und Design Halle Group Exhibition, Germany

2003 International Modern Sketch Art Exhibition, Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Xi’an, China

1997 China Contemporary Sketch Art Exhibition, The National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

1996 Three People Chinese Painting Group Exhibition, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

1994 Ink Painting and Human Being, Beijing Concert Hall Gallery, Beijing, China

1993 Tianjin Modern Oil Painting Society First Exhibition, The Museum of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin, China

1990 Tianjin Academy of Painting Eleven People Exhibition, Beijing Concert Hall Gallery, Beijing, China

1988 Second Tianjin Youth Art Festival, Tianjin Art Museum, Tianjin, China

1984 Changzhou, Haerbin, Tianjin Three Provinces and City Art Exhibition, Tianjin Art Museum, Tianjin, China

1983 Fig: The 1st Tianjin Youth Painting Exhibition, Tianjin Art Museum, Tianjin, China