Shang Liang

Rooted in the unique contexts of Asian subcultural discourse, Shang’s practice continuously engages with the body, desire, and the power structures underlying them. Themes of strength and heroism, along with the metaphors and implications of battle and conquest, form the core of her work. Through repeated refinement, she develops figures and visual symbols tied to these themes, across series of paintings and sculptures. Her widely acclaimed “Muscle Man” series has become central to her artistic trajectory and earned her significant recognition. Emerging from her acute gender awareness and what she describes as a deep-seated “fear of physical strength,” this artistic persona encompasses multiple ongoing sub-series—including “The Real Boy”, “Good Hunter”, “Boxing Man”, and “The Split Self”—initiated in 2012 and continuing to the present. For Shang, the body is more than flesh; muscle itself can be understood as a kind of “garment,” akin to clothing as an adornment of the body, offering a viable pathway to deconstructing corporeal identity.

As a leading figure among Chinese female artists of the post-80s generation, Shang Liang employs heavy brushwork and a palette that is pure, restrained, and intensely energetic. Her creative practice draws on the idealized forms and ritualistic sensibility of classical sculpture, integrating these with an exceptional capacity for painterly shaping and transformation. As a result, the depicted body becomes a vehicle rich with emotional and spiritual symbolism. While showcasing an aesthetic of physicality and strength, the artist also articulates her critical reflections on ethics, gender, social structures, and self-development, thereby systematically establishing a highly recognizable style and core thematic concerns in her oeuvre.

Behind the seemingly perfect state of flesh, there persistently lies an awareness of existential and mortal dread—the ultimate concerns of humanity—which the artist deliberately restrains and gradually unveils as a profound, underlying force. Each act of creation appears to be, as it were, both “a repeated transgression against ethical norms and an exposure of the ineffable secrets of youthful, plump, and flourishing bodies.” In Shang Liang’s work, the body itself becomes a crucial specimen for her artistic archaeology and future explorations, offering multiple possibilities for investigation, contemplation, and interaction. As noted by art critic Shanyu Zhong, “Speaking of Francis Bacon’s paintings, Deleuze painstakingly highlights the chunks of flesh in spasm, the overflowing pinkish liquid, as well as figures hysterically screaming, limbs rising and falling, organs diastolic and systolic…While Bacon favors a muddled animality, Shang Liang consciously constrains her characters within the scope of classical portraiture.While Bacon favors a muddled animality, Shang Liang consciously constrains her characters within the scope of classical portraiture.”

1981    Born in Beijing

2004   Bachelor’s degree in Oil Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA)

2011     Master’s degree from CAFA’s School of Experimental Art and Sci-Tech Arts

Currently an Associate Professor and Graduate Advisor at CAFA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 Coexistence Makes Human Being, MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai

2022 New Man, Cc Foundation & Art Centre, Shanghai

2021 Mortal at the Helm, MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai

2019 New Order, MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025 Tender Comrade, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2024 A Journey FROM the Center of the Earth, Shanghai Bund Art Center, Shanghai

Semi-Manual Era, Gravity Art Museum, Beijing

Go As Astro Boy, chi K11 Art Space, Guangzhou

The Eyes of Wisdom: Contemporary Women Art Exhibition, Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, Suzhou

Ode to the Unexpected, MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai

2023 Constellation, Youth Project Invitational Exhibition, Being Art Museum, Shanghai

Tendering, PHD Group, Hong Kong

2022 Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong

New Youth: The 4th Academic Experimental Art Documentary Exhibition, The 3rd China Academic Experimental Art Education Conference, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, School of Ceramic Fine Arts / Central Academy of Fine Arts, School of Experimental Art, Jingdezhen

Anthropomorphic Summer, Double-solo Exhibition by Lupingyuan and Shang Liang, Fosun Foundation, Annex Beijing, Beijing

Spring Rhapsody, KWM Art Center, Beijing

2021 Mirage or Reality, chi K11, Shanghai

Where Are We? Where Is the Future?, CAFA Young Artists Residency Exhibition in Japan, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing

You Yi, Fengxian International Public Art Project, Shanghai

The Logic of Painting, Xinjiang Art Museum, Urumqi

2020 Shanghai Plaza, Shanghai Plaza, Shanghai

2019 Frieze x Ray Johnson project, Randall’s Island Park, New York

Advent: Inventing Landscape, Producing the Earth, Qianshao Contemporary Art Center, Shanghai

Porsche “Young Chinese Artist of the Year” Nominees’ Exhibition, Beijing Exhibition Hall, Beijing

Extreme Mix, Guangzhou Airport Biennale, Guangzhou

2018 Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project “City Unbounded”, Jing’an Sculpture Park, Shanghai

YOHOOD 2018 Global Trend of Carnival, Shanghai World Expo Exhibition Hall, Shanghai

PLAY, MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai

2017  New Tale of Orient: Young Art from Asia, National Art Museum of China, Beijing

Form Consumption Over Substance, MadeIn Gallery, Shanghai

2015 The Only In This Multifarious World, Mingyuan Art Museum, Shanghai

Portrait Now!, The Museum of National History, Copenhagen, Denmark

Public Collections

White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Fosun Foundation, Shanghai, China

Cc Foundation, Shanghai, China

Macalline Foundation, Beijing, China

Meta Media Group, Shanghai, China

Yi Art Museum, Beijing, China

CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

MadeIn Museum, Shanghai, China

Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, China

K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong, China

Madame FIGARO, Paris, France