Chen Wenbo

CHEN WENBO (Sichuan, China, 1969).
"Snooker B," 2006.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated and titled on the back.
Measurements: 150 x 200 cm.

Chen Wenbo's detailed paintings place him in a realist movement that has taken hold in contemporary Chinese art, based on the study of the everyday object as the centerpiece of his works. For his "Epidemiology" series, for example, he selected foods and depicted them with bright palettes, highlighting the reflected glow of an egg yolk. His recent practice contemplates a new direction in his observation of the everyday: in these new paintings, he attempts to disrupt natural environments, drawing inspiration from Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin's term "carnivalesque," where subversion of the dominant takes place.

Chen Wenbo graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1991. Chen Wenbo's work is the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including Day and Night, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2016); The Fat Years, Klein Sun Gallery, New York, NY (2015); Chen Wenbo: Broken Series, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2009); Back Door: Chen Wenbo 2003, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China (2003) and Chen Wenbo: Vitamines Z, Galerie LOFT, Paris, France (2000). He has also exhibited in group shows such as Just Space, UCCA, Beijing, China (2017); Apperceive of Liberation, WuHan Art Gallery, Wuhan, China (2016-2017); Doctrine of New Capital: Huang Yu Collection Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chengdu, China (2016); No Candy to Make Trouble, Yang Art Museum, Beijing, China (2016); Liberated skin/ skin of liberation, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan, China (2016); China 8: Contemporary Art from China on the Rhine and Ruhr, NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany (2015); Power of the Mass, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China (2015); Re-View, Long Museum, Shanghai, China (2014); Civilization, OCAT Xi'an, Xi'an, China (2014); Broached Retreat, Ullens Contemporary Art Center, Beijing, China (2014); Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland (2005) and Follow Me, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2005). His work is in major public collections such as the Ullens Foundation, Belgium; the Olenska Foundation, Switzerland; the Guang Dong Art Museum, China; the Uli Sigg Collection, Switzerland; the He Xiangning Art Museum, China; the dslcollection, France; and the White Rabbit Gallery, Australia.