HAN FENG
Han Feng / 韩锋 (*1972) lives and works recently in Berlin and Shanghai as painting and installation artist. His artworks explore to use paintings or installations to reproduce the traces of different characteristics of utensils. These traces reveal what is the guide in the process of cognizing things in order to promote continuous evolution. He try to create various imaginary spaces that contain more different sets of cognition to approach the Truth.
Han Feng attended the Art Institute of Harbin Normal University, before graduating with an MA from Art Institute of Shanghai University.
The delicate sensibility in Han Feng's work is the same whether he is working in oil on canvas or in folded paper sculptural installations, and come from his training in traditional ink painting being applied to new methods and materials. He is an artist who feels deeply the physical and emotional conditions of contemporary life, and offers us an awakening to its meaning.
Han Feng won the Grand Jury Award in the 2008 Annual Creative New Artists Competition, M50 Art Gallery and the First Prize in the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize (China) 2010. He has had solo exhibitions at Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, UK, 2012; Aroundspace, Shanghai, 2011; Flying circles, MOCA, Shanghai, 2010; Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2009.
Han Feng participated in group exhibitions at Museum of Modern Art Bogota, Colombia and Contemporary Art Center of Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba 2012; Ushuaia Biennial, Argentina, 2011; "+follow" group exhibition (MOCA) Shanghai, 2010; Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai, 2008; Museo Della Permanente, Milan, 2008; and "The Backup for New Art," group exhibition of "the Post 70s Artists," Beijing, 2000.
Han Feng attended the Art Institute of Harbin Normal University, before graduating with an MA from Art Institute of Shanghai University.
The delicate sensibility in Han Feng's work is the same whether he is working in oil on canvas or in folded paper sculptural installations, and come from his training in traditional ink painting being applied to new methods and materials. He is an artist who feels deeply the physical and emotional conditions of contemporary life, and offers us an awakening to its meaning.
Han Feng won the Grand Jury Award in the 2008 Annual Creative New Artists Competition, M50 Art Gallery and the First Prize in the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize (China) 2010. He has had solo exhibitions at Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, UK, 2012; Aroundspace, Shanghai, 2011; Flying circles, MOCA, Shanghai, 2010; Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2009.
Han Feng participated in group exhibitions at Museum of Modern Art Bogota, Colombia and Contemporary Art Center of Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba 2012; Ushuaia Biennial, Argentina, 2011; "+follow" group exhibition (MOCA) Shanghai, 2010; Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai, 2008; Museo Della Permanente, Milan, 2008; and "The Backup for New Art," group exhibition of "the Post 70s Artists," Beijing, 2000.
Han Feng (*1972, Harbin, China) graduated in 1998 from the Harbin Art Institute, and in 2009 obtained a Master’s degree from the Art Institute of Shanghai University. In the same year, he debuted his inaugural solo exhibition, titled “The Wronger, the Prettier”, at Don Gallery in Shanghai. His talent garnered immediate international recognition and appreciation. He won the Grand Jury Award in 2008 and two years later the First Prize of John Moores Painting Prize in China. After that, he started to exhibit his art outside his country, going to America and Europe.
In 2019, he moved to Berlin, where the encounter with Western culture caused a significant change in the approach to his work, creating a new method, which is not Chinese nor European, but a new artistic language that is entirely his own. His distinctive technique involves the enveloping of an object - which he collects at flea markets or directly from the homes of European families - with the canvas that he later paints. What results is not a painting, it has no frame, but a sculpture. The canvas becomes a shell that preserves the essence of the primary object - which is removed after the paint has dried - while charging it with a new symbolic significance. This fusion generates a dialogue that, as the artist himself states, conceptually represents “memory and a certain emotional flow of the material remains of life”.
The artistic process of Han Feng involves an analysis of the interaction between space and colours, while also reflecting on the emotional bond that connects people to objects. Sometimes, this relation has a more spiritual meaning, and, in this case, the artist actually draws inspiration from the dialogues with his wife, a devout Christian. In an almost paradoxical turn, Han Feng, a Daoist, finds himself captivated by the Christian faith. However, he is not interested in faith and the sacredness of objects, but rather in understanding the culture and people surrounding him.
His work is driven by a deep-seated desire for communication, seeking ways to explore the limitations of perception and the paradoxical nature of reality. In his artistic process, he deliberately omits or blurs details, leaving white space for the audience’s imagination to participate.
In 2019, he moved to Berlin, where the encounter with Western culture caused a significant change in the approach to his work, creating a new method, which is not Chinese nor European, but a new artistic language that is entirely his own. His distinctive technique involves the enveloping of an object - which he collects at flea markets or directly from the homes of European families - with the canvas that he later paints. What results is not a painting, it has no frame, but a sculpture. The canvas becomes a shell that preserves the essence of the primary object - which is removed after the paint has dried - while charging it with a new symbolic significance. This fusion generates a dialogue that, as the artist himself states, conceptually represents “memory and a certain emotional flow of the material remains of life”.
The artistic process of Han Feng involves an analysis of the interaction between space and colours, while also reflecting on the emotional bond that connects people to objects. Sometimes, this relation has a more spiritual meaning, and, in this case, the artist actually draws inspiration from the dialogues with his wife, a devout Christian. In an almost paradoxical turn, Han Feng, a Daoist, finds himself captivated by the Christian faith. However, he is not interested in faith and the sacredness of objects, but rather in understanding the culture and people surrounding him.
His work is driven by a deep-seated desire for communication, seeking ways to explore the limitations of perception and the paradoxical nature of reality. In his artistic process, he deliberately omits or blurs details, leaving white space for the audience’s imagination to participate.
Han Feng
Selected exhibition history
1998
Graduated from the Harbin Art Institute, BA degree
2009
Graduated from Shanghai University of Art, MA degree
Graduated from the Harbin Art Institute, BA degree
2009
Graduated from Shanghai University of Art, MA degree
2017
Han Feng: Somewhere, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing
2014
Han Feng, ShanghART Main Space, Shanghai
2012
Han Feng Solo Show, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester, U.K.
2011
Han Feng Works Exhibition, Aroundspace Gallery, Shanghai
2009
The Wronger, the Prettier, Han Feng Solo Show, Don Gallery, Shanghai
Han Feng: Somewhere, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing
2014
Han Feng, ShanghART Main Space, Shanghai
2012
Han Feng Solo Show, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester, U.K.
2011
Han Feng Works Exhibition, Aroundspace Gallery, Shanghai
2009
The Wronger, the Prettier, Han Feng Solo Show, Don Gallery, Shanghai
2022.
Forming Communities: Berliner Wege, KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
My CASA, AD, Shanghai
2021
Punk, Glory & Dekadenz, Hipp-Halle, Gmunden, Austria
10th Anniversary Tour Exhibition of John Moores Painting Prize (China), Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Museum, Chongqing; Fine Arts Literature Art Center, Wuhan; Art Museum of Nanjing University of Fine Art, Nanjing; Yantai Art Museum, Yantai
Daily, Liaigre, 796 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai
From Now On, L’Achat Belle, Berlin, Germany
2020
Entre 4 Yeux, Marc Schmitz / Han Feng, M68, Berlin, Germany
Winding Time, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing
From now on, A Chronicle of Life at Home First Chapter, Room 102, No. 225, An Fu Road, Shanghai
New Look, Baiziting Art Center, Nanjing
Cache: From B to Z, ShanghART, Shanghai
2019
The Poem Simply Rising, Wuxi Museum, Wuxi
Change, Yun Art Center, Shanghai
Daybreak, The Barn Contemporary Art Space, Shenzhen
Side Lanes, ShanghART, Shanghai
2018
Rompiendo Moldes- Eexposicion, Library of Salamanca University, Spain
Rolling Snowball · Nanjing, The Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing
Looming Traces, Qing Art Space, Shanghai
White Flash, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing
Art Patrons, Qiao Space & Tank Shanghai Project Space, Shanghai
Sense of Paper - Melting Point, L+ Space, Shanghai
2016
Holzwege, ShanghART, Shanghai
The Uncertain, or the Shelved..., ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai
The Uncertain, or the Shelved..., ShanghART Main Space, Shanghai
The Crocodile in the Pond, 11 artists from ShanghART Gallery, Museum Art St. Urban and Abbey St. Urban, Luzern, Switzerland
John Moores Painting Prize (China) Winners 2010-2014, 21 Century Min Sheng Museum, Shanghai
Forming Communities: Berliner Wege, KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
My CASA, AD, Shanghai
2021
Punk, Glory & Dekadenz, Hipp-Halle, Gmunden, Austria
10th Anniversary Tour Exhibition of John Moores Painting Prize (China), Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Museum, Chongqing; Fine Arts Literature Art Center, Wuhan; Art Museum of Nanjing University of Fine Art, Nanjing; Yantai Art Museum, Yantai
Daily, Liaigre, 796 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai
From Now On, L’Achat Belle, Berlin, Germany
2020
Entre 4 Yeux, Marc Schmitz / Han Feng, M68, Berlin, Germany
Winding Time, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing
From now on, A Chronicle of Life at Home First Chapter, Room 102, No. 225, An Fu Road, Shanghai
New Look, Baiziting Art Center, Nanjing
Cache: From B to Z, ShanghART, Shanghai
2019
The Poem Simply Rising, Wuxi Museum, Wuxi
Change, Yun Art Center, Shanghai
Daybreak, The Barn Contemporary Art Space, Shenzhen
Side Lanes, ShanghART, Shanghai
2018
Rompiendo Moldes- Eexposicion, Library of Salamanca University, Spain
Rolling Snowball · Nanjing, The Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing
Looming Traces, Qing Art Space, Shanghai
White Flash, ShanghART Beijing, Beijing
Art Patrons, Qiao Space & Tank Shanghai Project Space, Shanghai
Sense of Paper - Melting Point, L+ Space, Shanghai
2016
Holzwege, ShanghART, Shanghai
The Uncertain, or the Shelved..., ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai
The Uncertain, or the Shelved..., ShanghART Main Space, Shanghai
The Crocodile in the Pond, 11 artists from ShanghART Gallery, Museum Art St. Urban and Abbey St. Urban, Luzern, Switzerland
John Moores Painting Prize (China) Winners 2010-2014, 21 Century Min Sheng Museum, Shanghai