Xie Fan China, 1983

Born in 1983 in Jiangyou, Sichuan Province, Xie Fan lives and works between Beijing and Chengdu.

Xie Fan's work is rooted in the exploration of permeation, the way color seeps into and bonds with its ground. His early silk paintings investigated translucency and absorption, while his more recent engagement with terracotta highlights the porous, earthen qualities of the material. By layering mineral pigments and oxides onto raw clay before firing, he allows high kiln temperatures to trigger unpredictable chemical reactions, embedding a sense of chance and transformation into each piece. This process recalls both the alchemical nature of ceramics and the historical intersections between painting and sculpture.

Through these material investigations, Xie Fan challenges conventional notions of painting, expanding its boundaries beyond the canvas into the realms of objecthood and spatial experience. His works respond to shifts in light, atmosphere, and touch, emphasizing their impermanence and connection to the natural world. By bridging tradition and experimentation, Xie creates a practice that is at once deeply rooted in history and radically open to the contingencies of the present.

Xie Fan (b. 1983, Jiangyou, Sichuan Province, China) received his BFA from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI) in 2005. Recent solo exhibitions include Various Fires, Académie Conti (Vosne-Romanée, France, 2024); Dionysus‘ Screen, Galerie Marguo (Paris, France, 2023); Sediment, Sifang Art Museum, Tongren Road Space (Shanghai, China, 2022); Back To The Footlights Tomorrow, WHITE SPACE BEIJING (Beijing, China, 2014). Recent group exhibitions include Night is the Shadow of the Earth, Wind H Art Center (Beijing, China, 2023); A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place, BlLUNT SOCIETY (Shanghai, China, 2023); Silkroad on the Moonlight, Gowolhun (Seoul, South Korea,2017); Mountain Sites: Views of Laoshan, Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing, China, 2016); The Moscow Biennale, All-Russia Exhibition Centre, VDNKh (Moscow, Russia, 2015); Absolute Collection Guideline, Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing, China, 2015).