Chen Fei’s narrative paintings are fantasized, often perverted, constructs transposing elements from his personal life into either surrealistic or hyperrealistic pastiches. While he belongs to the post-1980 generation of Chinese artists raised under the one-child policy, whose overall aesthetics influenced by mainstream culture (notably manga and anime) is typically concerned with the self rather than grand history, a remarkably sharp sense of black humor informs his vibrant, ego-centered visions. Almost systematically exhibiting his own figure in his work, he satirically diverts the age-long tradition of self-portraiture to revisit Eastern and Western art-historical canons. The highly graphic quality of his lively compositions, which he envisions as film stills, playfully contrasts with the refinement of his very meticulous and detail-oriented style. Further interested in how the rapid economic growth of China has impacted its now globalized culture, Chen Fei also questions his nation’s collective taste and societal evolution.
Born in 1983 in Hongtong, Shanxi, China
Lives and works in Beijing, China
EDUCATION
2005 - Graduated from the Department of Fine Art, Beijing Film Academy
SOLO SHOWS
2017
- Fine Art, Perrotin, Paris, France
2016
- The Day is Yet Long, Galerie UrsMeile, Lucerne, Switzerland
- The Day is Yet Long, Galerie UrsMeile, Beijing, China
2014
- Flesh and Me, Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong, China
2012
- Extravagant Imagination, Olyvia Fine Art, London, UK
2011
- Stranger: Chen Fei Solo Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2010
- Bad Taste, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2009
- One-Track Minded, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
2004
- Chen Fei Solo Oil Painting Exhibition, Beijing Film Academy, Beijing, China
GROUP SHOWS
2016
- Living in Figures – Izumi Kato x Chen Fei, Nizayama Art Park Power Plant Museum, Toyama, Japan
- Painting as Strait Gate: Post-80s Artists Invitation Exhibition, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
- New Capital Huang Yu Collection Exhibition (2007-2016), Museum of Contemporary Art Chengdu, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
2015
- The Civil Power – Beijing Minsheng Art Museum Opening Exhibition, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
- A New Dynasty – Created in China, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark
2014
- Wormhole ↔ Geo-attraction, Lin & Lin Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan, China
- 1199 People, Long Museum, Shanghai, China
- Chinese New Painting Award 10th Anniversary Invitation Exhibition, Hi ART, Beijing, China
- 2014 Wuhan 3rd Documentary Exhibition of Fine Arts, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, Hubei, China
2013
- Criss-Cross: Artworks of Young Chinese Contemporary Artists from Long Collection, Long Museum, Shanghai, China
- Uneasy Trip in Asia III, CANS Tea & Books House, Taipei, Taiwan, China
- Future Master, Winshare Art Museum, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- A Miscellany of Arts: The Visual Rhetoric of the Young Generation, Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
2012
- The First Xinjiang Biennale of Contemporary Art, Xinjiang International Convention & Exhibition Center, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China
- The First CAFAM • Future Exhibition, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China
- A4 Young Artist Experimental Season 2nd Round Exhibition, A4 Contemporary Arts Center, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Latitude/Attitude: Schoeni Art Gallery 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China
- FOCUS ON TALENTS Finalists Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Lust and Love of the Young and Liberated, 798 Space, Beijing, China
- New and Past, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan, China
2011
- Sketching the Heart, Beijing Space, Beijing, China
- All Cannibals?, me Collectors Room Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- One Man Theater: Works by Post-80s Artists, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
2009
- New Works, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
- Enliven – In between Realities and Fiction, Animamix Biennale, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Niubi Newbie Kids II, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China
- My Dream 2009 Art Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- From Zero to Hero, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
2008
- Niubi Newbie Kids, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China
- Finding Oneself, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- The Origin – The First Moon River Sculpture Festival, Moon River Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
- Rebuild – China School Charity’s Artwork Donation Exhibition for Sichuan Earthquake, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
- Superficial Is Not My Motto – Post ’80s Art, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
2007
- Gathering Sand Castles – Chinese New Generation Artist Exhibition, Yan Huang Art Museum, Beijing, China
2005
- Next Station, Cartoon?, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; Star Gallery, Beijing, China
- Archaeology of the Future – The Second Triennial of Chinese Art, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
- The Second Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu Century City, Chengdu, China
- The Self-Made Generation – A Retrospective of New Chinese Painting, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
- Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
- me Collectors Room Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- The Franks-Suss Collection, London, UK
AWARDS
2012
- FOCUS ON TALENTS, Today Art Museum and Martell Art Fund, Beijing, China
PUBLICATIONS
2016
- Living in Figures - Izumi Kato x Chen Fei, Perrotin, Hong Kong
- CHEN FEI, DISTANZ Verlag, Berlin, Germany
- The Day is Yet Long, Galerie UrsMeile, Beijing, China
2011
- Stranger, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2010
- Records of Antagonists in World Movie, China Youth Press, Beijing, China
- Bad Taste, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2009
- One-Track Minded, Star Gallery, Beijing, China
2008
- Looking for Me, Star Gallery, Beijing, China