A prominent figure among mid-career painters working in China today, Dian Jianyu uses her distinctive light brushstrokes and palette as a means to explore sophisticated aesthetic territories. Her artworks often observe society with a sense of optimism and a playful imagination even as they dissect real life in all of its complexity and heaviness. Through her use of narrative, she destabilizes the relationship between discourse and image, exploring how painting’s different elements encounter and interact with each other across time and space. With humor, she experiments with the images and cultural symbols that define the collective memories of generations past and present.

This exhibition—Duan’s first institutional solo presentation in Beijing—will feature some of her most important series of the past decade, along with a number of more recent pieces. Of particular interest is the series “Sharp, Sharp, Smart,” from around ten years ago, which marked a turning point in both her painterly language and overall creative process. This retrospective look at a specific period of the artist’s practice allows us to see how Duan remains firmly committed to painting even as she endeavors to transcend the medium’s limitations by instilling her canvases with ever more meaning and a broader perspective. This exhibition is curated by UCCA Curator Chelsea Qianxi Liu.

About the Artist

Duan Jianyu (b. 1970, Zhengzhou, Henan) graduated from the oil painting department at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art in 1995. She has taught at the South China Normal University of the Arts in Guangzhou.

Selected recent solo exhibitions include: "Duan Jianyu: Yúqiáo" (YDP, London, 2025); "Duan Jianyu: The Foam of Days" (Mirrored Gardens, Guangzhou, 2022); "Automatic Writing - Automatic Understanding" (Pond Society, Shanghai, 2020); "Duan Jianyu Solo Exhibition" (2019 Art Basel Basel, Basel); "Sharp, Sharp, Smart" (Mirrored Gardens, Guangzhou, 2016); "A Potent Force: Duan Jianyu and Hu Xiaoyuan" (Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, 2013). She has participated in international exhibitions and biennials, including: "One Hand Clapping" (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2018); "APT8 Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art" (Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2015); "15 Years Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA)" (Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2014); "The Third Guangzhou Triennial: Farewell to Post-Colonialism" (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, 2008); "China Welcomes You...Desires, Struggles, New Identities" (Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, 2007); "The Second Guangzhou Triennial: Beyond" (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, 2005); "Venice Biennial 50th International Art Exhibition: Z.O.U. - Zone of Urgency" (La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2003); "4th Gwangju Biennial: P_A_U_S_E" (Gwangju, 2002). Duan was the recipient of the Best Artist Award at the 2010 Chinese Contemporary Art Awards (CCAA).