Born in 1992 in Chongqing, China
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
The Berlin-based Chinese artist creates large-scale, immersive paintings in which gestural lines evoke echoes of landscapes, bodies, movements, thoughts. In the process, she develops a kind of hybrid abstract painting that combines various influences and inspirations: Taoism and post-structuralism, ancient Chinese pictorial traditions, bodywork, dance, martial arts, and the canon of Western art history. In her work, mythologies and the lyrical, hermetic painting of Cy Twombly merge with global mass culture, electronic music, with the networked, media-influenced thinking of millennials and Gen Z. Xiyao’s paintings explore inner visions, bodily perceptions, sensations, feelings, interrogating her East-West biography.
education
2018-2020
- MFA, HFBK, University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, Germany
2018-2019
- MFA, State University of New York at Purchase, New York, USA
2015-2018
- BA, HFBK, University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, Germany
2010-2014
- BA, Sichuan Fine Art Institute, Chongqing, China
solo shows
2026
- Upcoming solo show at Perrotin, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2025
- Wingless Shadow, Tang Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
- Lightly Floats and Drifts the Boat, König Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
2024
- Do you hear the waterfall?, Perrotin, New York, USA
- Before the Sun Goes Down, Tang Contemporary Art, Bangkok, Thailand
- The Blue Hour - 阳春召我以烟景, Massimo de Carlo, Milano, Italy
2023
- Allongé - Out of Reach, Perrotin, Seoul, South Korea
- On the way to Penglai island, Konïg, Berlin, Germany
- A Carnival in the Forest, MASSIMODECARLO, London, UK
- Liang Xiao Yin, Tang Cotemporary Art, Beijing, China
- A Long Reach: Touching the Unseen, Song Art Museum, Beijing, China
2022
- The Crystalline Moon Palace, Perrotin, Paris, France
- The Endless Dream, Arndt Collection, Cape Schanck, Australia
2021
- Castel in the air, Geber Stauffer Fine Arts, Zurich, Switzerland
- A dance to fly in the blossoming trees, A Thousand Plateaus Gallery, Chengdu, China
2019
- Peach Blossom Spring Story, Soy Capitán Gallery, Berlin, Germany
group shows
2025
- De sculptura, Albertina Klosterneuburg Museum, Vienna, Austria
- Abstraction (Re)Creation - 20 Under 40, X Museum, Beijing, China
- Groupshow Perrotin, Paris, France
- Sound of Water, Perrotin, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Amore Chiama Colore, Fondazione D'ARC, Roma, Italy
- Collection Majudia - New selection of works, Arsenal Contemporary, Montreal, Canada
- Nos Limites da Forma, Museum Inimá de Paula, Brazil
2024
- Symphony of Coexistence — Chinese and Southeast Asian Art Invitational Exhibition, The Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
- Questioninings on Painting, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Nurture Gaia, Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok, Thailand
- Boundless Reverie: Chinese Savoir-Faire and Contemporary Art, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
- Habiter le Monde, Le château, Centre d’Art Contemporain et du Patrimoine d’Aubenas, France
- Supercrowds/Supercommunity, TANK Shanghai, China
2023
- Mille Cortex, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- «Unknown/Chronology/Object», One Man At A Lonely Island Special Project, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
- The Arndt Collection: From One World to Another, Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria, Australia
- The collection exhibition of Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
2022
- I'm Stepping High, I'm Drifting, and There I Go Leaping, Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao, China
- A Marvellous Memory, Jiu Shi Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- Boundless, Aurora Museum, Shanghai, China
- L'Empire des sens, Tang Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
2021
- MISA Discoveries, König Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- Low Fever, Tang Contemporary Art Gallery, Hong Kong
- Jung x 5, Plain Gallery, Milan, Italy
2020
- Der River, Spinnerei, Leipzig, Germany
- I-Define, A Thousand Plateaus Gallery, Chengdu, China
- Salondergegenwart, Hamburg, Germany
- If not now…, MomSpace, Hamburg, Germany
2019
- Summer Fling, Beehive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
- Yellow Reflection, Galerie Liusa Wang, Paris, France
- Taipei Dangdai, Gallery Vacancy, Taipei, Taiwan
2018
- Printed Matter's NY Art Book Fair, MoMA PS1, New York, USA
- Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, New York, USA
- I mean it when I say XXX, CONDO Shanghai, Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai, China
- Performance Festival, Cité international des arts, Paris, France
- Masse Phase, Sprink, Dusseldorf, Germany
- Inter-Youth, Art Gallery of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
- Sehnsucht’s Dialektik, MomSpace, Hamburg, Germany
2017
- Nomination Hiscox Kunstpreis 2017, HFBK, Germany
- NominationDAAD Kunstpreis 2017, HFBK, Germany
- ARTz IV, BENZENE, Hamburg, Germany
- Beijing Summer Show, NL Art Museum, Beijing, China
2016
- Kor'yaka 1, Goldsmith Fine Art College, London, UK
- KAI XIN, Elektrohaus, Hamburg, Germany
2015
- Ji Lie Che Jian, Tank Loft - Chongqing Contemporary Art Center, Huangjueping, Chongqing, China
2013
- Guanlan Games, Peter Ford Gallery, Bristol, UK
- Jia Xiang An Shan Art Museum, Chongqing, China
2012
- Chongqing Art Gallery, Huangjueping, Chongqing, China
awards
2018
- Karl H. Ditze Stiftung and DAAD PROMOS, New York, USA
2017
- Nomination Hiscox Art Award (Hiscox Kunstpreis), Hamburg, Germany
2016
- Exchange Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
- Schües Art Award (Schües-Stiftung, Christa und Nikolaus Schües), Hamburg, Germany
- Nomination DAAD Art Award, Hamburg, Germany
