From July 1st, 2022 to August 28th, 2022, Long Museum (West Bund) will launch the solo exhibition “Painting: Shen Xiaotong’s painting” of the artist Shen Xiaotong, which curated by Wang Wei, the Director of Long Museum, Lv Peng as academic director and Zhao Huan as art curator. This would be Shen’s first solo exhibition in a museum in Shanghai, that covered his works for the past 10 years, including “Face”, “Flowers and Fruits”, “Chinese Ink and Landscape”, “Bamboo” and other series, with a total of 22 sets works.

“Face” series is taken from the childhood portraits of Shen Xiaotong’s friends. On the pure red background, the innocent faces seem to gradually emerge from the depths of time, and the dark eyes evoking endless emotions; “Flower and Fruit” are mundane things in everyday life but they are either blooming in intensity, or dimming in the ink by the artist’s brush, depicted by his heart; “Chinese Ink and landscape” and “Bamboo” are mostly recent creations, the memories of the mountains, bamboo, forests, lakes and seas are redrawn between light and dark, to think of the past with the mind of today. Although the themes of his works vary, it is not difficult to tell his affection towards his past life and experience , as well as his choice and persistence in artistic creation.

Most of Shen Xiaotong’s paintings represent ordinary objects and scenes in daily life, not grandiose themes. Even his large-scale paintings are ethereal and tranquil. This kind of personal experience and emotional expression that stemmed from daily life, as well as the momentary palpitation brought by viewing the paintings, is even more precious after the pandemic. It can touch and comfort every viewer and remind us once again to discover art ,take care of ourselves , cherish life in our daily life.

Shen Xiaotong graduated from Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1989. He witnessed the development of Chinese contemporary art in the past few decades, and the changes of the art market after 2000. Although he was in a complex domestic and foreign art environment, and was impacted by Western art concepts, theories, and genres, he seemed to be hardly affected. He always adhered to the observation and description of the real life around him, and insisted on the expression of his own inner world with an independent attitude.The Long Museum hopes to provide a platform for artists with diverse personalities and artistic pursuits, and try to further discover and present the rich and colorfulness of Chinese contemporary art to the audience.

About the Artist

Shen Xiaotong was born in 1968, Chengdu, Sichuan. He graduated from the Painting Department of The Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1989. He is now a professional painter, currently works and lives in Chengdu.

His selected solo exhibitions include: Diary-My Landscape, International Yiyuan Art Museum, Beijing, 1994; Diary of Temptation, Gallery of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, 1997; Shen Xiaotong Solo Exhibition, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, 2008; About the Water Cross the Sea, Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art, Chengdu, 2013.

He had also participated multiple group shows in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, San Francisco, Paris, Bonn, etc. Southwestern China Modern Exhibition, Chengdu, 1988; The First of China Modern Art Exhibition, China Art Museum, 1989; The First Nineties Biennial Art Fair, Guangzhou, 1992; The Annual Exhibition of Works Nominated by Art Critics, China Art Museum, 1994; China!, Kunstmuseum, Bonn, 1996; Paris-Pékin, Paris, 2001; Pure Views—New Painting from China, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, 2011; Re-View — Opening Exhibition of Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, 2014. The works of Shen Xiaotong have been known widely and  collected by a number of Public and private collections.