Born in 1978 in Sichuan, China
Lives and works in Beijing, China
Chen Ke launched her career in Beijing after obtaining a BA from the Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 2002 and an MFA in 2005 from the same faculty. Chen is among the generation witnessing the rapid development of China. Traditional Chinese culture and Western culture have intertwined throughout her growth and career.
In Chen’s early works, a fragile little girl was often depicted in a surrealistic background, struggling with a reversed reality, or wallowing in nostalgia in a lonely and innocent manner. Since 2012, Chen began to use the real figures in her photographic works as the object of description. From Frida to Monroe, she expressed her feelings in real life through the interpretation of these characters, especially the situation of women in society. And the experience of time and life.
2018, Chen set out on a new series, attempting to deal with the genuine feelings she has about her father. In these paintings, she managed to approach her personal experience and understanding of life in a more straightforward method. Through a series of mixed media paintings and installations inspired by the daily talk with the artist’s father, Chen discussed about youth, characteristic, family and aging in her solo exhibition “The Real Deal is Talking with Dad” at Yuz Museum (Shanghai, China).
2020, Chen debuts the series of Bauhaus Gal. These portraits are based on the zeitgeist-charged archive photos of the Bauhaus. Chen prefers the classical conventions when delineating the faces of these pioneering young women of modern times. Immersed in their own world and in deep thought, they are completely oblivious of the gazes from the outside. While transforming into painting, these archive images undergo “physical implants” so that the painter can relive certain moments in life and recollect involuntary memories such as smell, light and touch, thereby reviving those black and white figures in these historical records. Her awareness of medium from years of painting practice helps her to establish a link between the ancient spirit and contemporary sentiments.
Chen Ke plots her art inside her own script, involving the medium of painting in the mutual generation of experiences and memories to endeavor an open-ended development.
education
2005
- MFA, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China
Currently lives and works in Beijing
solo shows
2021
- Bauhaus Gal / Room, Galerie Perrotin, Shanghai, China
2020
- The Unknown Woman Artist, CNCNM, Beijing, China
2018-2019
- The Real Deal Is Talking with Dad, YUZ Museum, Shanghai, China
2016
- Dream·Dew, Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong
2015
- Cover: Recent Works by Chen Ke, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
2013
- Frida, a Woman, Art Basel in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
2012
- With “You”, I Will Never Feel Lonely, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2010
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
2009
- Another Me in the World, Kunsthaus Viernheim, Viernheim, Germany
2008
- Personal War, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
2007
- With You, I Will Never Feel Lonely, Star Gallery, Beijing, China; Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy
group shows
2023
- I Feel the Way You Feel, Galerie Perrotin, Shanghai, China
2022
- The First Beijing Biennial, Beijing, China
- Regarde-moi (Portrait Group Show), Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
2021
- Chinese Contemporary Art from the Yuz Foundation, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
2020
- Messenger, Perrotin Gallery, Shanghai, China
- Casting Votes, CLC Gallery Venture, Beijing, China
2017
- Reading the Raindrops—The Western China Artists Documenta, Moca Yinchuan Gallery, Yinchuan, China
2016
- Chinese Whispers: Recent Art from the Sigg & M+ Sigg Collections, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- SHE: International Women Artists Exhibition, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, China
2014
- Re-View: Opening Exhibition of Long Museum West Bund, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, China
2013
- Portrait of the Times: 30 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
- MIRROR AND SHADOW, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
2012
- Face, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2011
- Contemporary Art—Works from the Sigg Collection, Kunstmuseum Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
2010
- Self-image: Interpreting a Perspective of Chinese Woman Art in the 20th Century, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China
- The Franks-Suss Collection, The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
- Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art: Painting 1979-2009, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- RESHAPING HISTORY: China Youth New Art, China National Convention Center, Beijing, China
2009
- China: The Contemporary Rebirth, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy
2008
- Free Zone: China—An Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Art, Spazio in BSI Bank, Lugano, Switzerland
- Facing Reality—Selection of Chinese Contemporary Art, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
2007
- China—Facing Reality, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria
- Floating—New Generation of Art in China, Doart Co., Seoul, Korea
2005
- Archaeology of the Future: the Second Triennial of Chinese Art, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China
public collections
Museum Voorlinden, Netherlands
The Sigg Collection, Switzerland
The Franks-Suss Collection, UK
BSI Art Foundation, Switzerland
Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi, Italy
Shenzhen Art Museum, China
Yuz Museum, China
Long Museum, China
Minsheng Art Museum, China
White Rabbit Collection, Australia
Start Museum, China
Pond Society, China
Publications
2016
- A Woman, New Star Press, Beijing, China
- Cover: Recent Works by Chen Ke, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
2012
- After Deliverance, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
- With You, I Will Never Feel Lonely, China Youth Press, Beijing, China
- Face, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2011
- Shanshui: Landscape in Contemporary Chinese Art (Contemporary Works from the Sigg Collection), Kunstmuseum Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
2010
- Self-Image: Interpreting A Perspective of Chinese Woman Art In The 20th Century, Lingnan Arts Publishing House, Guangzhou, China
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
2009
- Chen Ke, Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, Germany
2008
- Personal War, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
- Looking for Me, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
- Time–lag, the new force of Chinese contemporary art, Magee Gallery, Madrid,
Spain
- Deep Breath -19 Samples of Chinese Contemporary Female Artists, Shanghai, China
- AVATARS AND ANTIHEROES—A GUIDE TO CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ARTISTS,
- Kodansha International Ltd, Tokyo, Japan
- Young Chinese Artist-the next generation, Prestel, Germany
2007
- With You, I Will Never Feel Lonely, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
- Generation Sweet and Sour- Chinese new Art, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheimer, Germany
- China- Facing Reality, Museum Moderner Kunst stiftung Ludwig wien, Vienna, Austria
- Floating- New Generation of Art in China, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
2006
- Naughty kids-The Chinese New Generation Born After 1970, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
- Fancy.Dream, DAMIANI Press
- Beyond Dimension-Chinese New Painting, Hubei Fine Arts Publishing House, Changsha, China
2005
- Next Station, Cartoon?, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
- Archaeology of the Future- the Second Triennial of Chinese Art, Hubei Fine Arts Publishing House, Wuhan, China
- NEW VISION NEW FACE—Young Artists in the Chengdu Biennial, Hebei Fine Arts
- Publishing House, Shijiazhuang, China
2001
- Yangban Model Art in China-2001 Chengdu Biennial, Sichuan Fine Arts
- Publishing House, Chengdu, China
