XU ZHONGMIN

In his earlier work, Xu Zhongmin uses the traditional technique of Chinese woodblock printing with delicately incised lines chiselled in to ‘pear wood’ blocks. The lines bring to life a series of towering cityscapes, stylised and distorted, but stamped with a range of individual atmospheres passing from bustling movement to quiet serenity. His most recent works are inspired by both the architect Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome and the recurring patterns that pervade Tibetan Buddhist iconography. The intricate sculptures contain stainless-steel egg-planets circling silver skeletons and babies on a repetitive furious march to nowhere.

After graduating from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Xu Zhongmin chaired the Ba Di Cao Arts Society. That same year he moved to Beijing and in 1992 he moved to England where he lived and worked for many years until returning to China. He first showed with October Gallery in 1995, and most recently in 2019, as part of the group exhibition Present Moment. His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany; White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; National Museum Of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea; Today Art Museum, Beijing; MOCA, Shanghai; Xi’an Art Museum, Xi’an, China; Contemporary Art Center, Osaka, Japan; the Royal Academy of Arts, London UK; the British Museum, London, UK; and Taipei MOCA, Taipei, Taiwan.

For sales enquiries please contact: Or call + 44 (0)20 7242 7367
View below for career highlights and works for sale by the artist.

XU ZHONGMIN Items From Our Store

Xu Zhongmin Selected Works

City of Dreams No.10, c. 1995.

Egg shape D Blue, 2024.

Egg shape A Silver, 2024.

Egg shape F Gold, 2024.

Egg shape C Purple, 2024.

Egg shape B Red, 2024.

Egg shape E Black, 2024.

The Net, 2004.

Media

Video footage of Xu Zhongmin's Egg shape series
**Warning contains flashing/strobing images

Play Video

Xu Zhongmin

Born in 1961, Sichuan Province, China. Lives and works between London, UK and Beijing, China.
Solo Exhibitions
2018		Hybridizations: The Ghost of Painting, White Box Art Center, Beijing, China
2016		Xu Zhongmin Solo Exhibition, White Box Art Center, Beijing, China
2011		Xu Zhongmin’s Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2005		Woodcarving and Installation, Albemarle Gallery, London, UK
2002		City of Dreams, Gallery Art U, Osaka, Japan
2001		Tidal Wave, October Gallery, London, UK
1995		BCI Fine Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Xu Zhongmin: Woodcuts, October Gallery, London, UK
1995		Blunden Oriental at The Gallery, Alan Baxter & Associates, London, UK
1994		Works of Xu Zhongmin, Cité Internationale, Paris, France
1994		Galerie Marie-Therése Cochin, Paris, France
1993		Nottingham Playhouse, Nottingham, UK
1986		One Eye, Sichuan Fine Art Academy, Sichaun, China

Group Exhibitions
2025		Luminous Matter, October Gallery, London, UK
2024		Shanshui: Echoes and Signals, M+ Collections, Hong Kong, China
2020		The Epoch of Robo-Sapiens Art, Hua Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
2019		Dream No Small Dream: Celebrating 40 Years of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK Present Moment, October Gallery, London, UK Asian Masters: Lee Jungwoong, Xu Zhongmin and Choi Soowhan, Pontone Gallery, London, UK
2018		Media Conversion, Cheng Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
2017		Rip It Up!, The 2nd Changjiang International Photography and Video Biennale, Changjiang Museum of Contemporary Art, Chongqing, China
2016		The Archer of Autumn Grove Crossing, Blue Mountain Contemporary Art at Wenyu River, Beijing, China
2014		Fusion/Convergence, T Museum, Hangzhou, China STARTING FROM HERE, International Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Ceramic Art, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2013		Enlightened Nature, Amy Li Gallery, Beijing, China
2012		Open Sky, Changjiang Museum of Contemporary Art, Chongqing, China Whatever You Want: New Media Show, Kara Kitchen, Beijing, China Quiet Energy, Dialogue Space, Beijing, China
2010		Reshaping History: Chinart from 2000 to 2009, China National Convention Center, Beijing, China Nanjing Biennale: And_Writers, Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum, Nanjing, China
2009		The Outsider, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy An Exhibition of Contemporary Art, White Box Art Center, Beijing, China
2008		Synthetic Times: Media Art China 2008, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China The Borders of Utopia, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China China Gold, Museum Maillol, Paris, France Empty, Marella Gallery, Beijing, China
2007		Post Avant-Garde Chinese Contemporary Art: Four Directions of the New Era, Atting House, Hong Kong Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves, ZKM \| Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany Floating: New Generation of Art in China, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
2006		Double-kick cracker: An exhibition of Chinese contemporary art, Tang Contemporary Art, Bejing, China This Is For Real - Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai, China China Coup, The Red Mansion Foundation at The Hospital, London, UK
2005		Convergence at E116° /N40 °, Beijing 2005, International Contemporary Art Exhibition, Platform China Contemporary Art Institute, Bejing, China Shanghai Cool: Creative Reproduction, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2004		Is It Art?, Noanoa Center and Shanxi Provincial Art Museum, Xi’an, China
2003		Chinese Printmaking Today: Woodblock Printing in China, British Library, London, UK Japan International Art Festival, Tokyo, Japan
2002		Contemporary Art Centre, Osaka Media City, Artist Commune (Cattle Depot Artist Village), Hong Kong, China Dream 02: Contemporary Chinese Art, gallery@oxo, London, UK
2001		Dream 2001: Contemporary Art Exhibition, Atlantis Gallery, London, UK Youth In Transition,Exhibition of Chinese, German and British young artists, He Xiangning Art Gallery, Shengzhen, China
2000		The Royal College of Art Gallery, London, UK The Figure in Contemporary Chinese Art, Hanart TZ Gallery, London, UK Face and Gestures, touring exhibition, Upriver Gallery, Kunming, Yunnan; Sichuan Fine Art Academy, Chongqing; Chengdu Sichuan; Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
1999		Two Artist Exhibition, Well Hung Gallery, London, UK Transvangarde 2000: The Shape of Things to Come, October Gallery, London, UK
1998		The International Triennial - 1998 Sculpture, Osaka, Japan
1998		The Hunting Art Prizes Exhibition 1998, The Royal College of Art Gallery, London, UK
		Newport Museum & Art Gallery, Newport, UK
		The 4th Sapporo International Print Biennale, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan
1997		The 8th International Biennial Print & Drawing Exhibition, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan
1997		The 8th International Biennial Print & Drawing Exhibition, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipe, Taiwan Xu Zhongmin and Ye Yong Qing: In Dialogue, October Gallery, London, UK The International Triennale - 1997 Printmaking, Osaka, Japan 229th Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK Redfern Gallery, London, UK Another Province Exhibition: Video and Film Installation, Watermans Arts Centre, London, UK
1996		Cell, Barn, Sichuan, China Transvangarde: Cutting-edge Work from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, October Gallery, London, UK The British Museum, London, UK National Printmaking Exhibition, The Mall Gallery, London, UK
1995		Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan
1994		The International Triennale 1994, Osaka, Japan Works of Xu Zhongmin, Cite Internationale, Paris, France The Hunting Art Prizes Exhibition 1994, The Royal College of Art Gallery, London, UK
1994		The Royal College of Art Gallery, London, UK
1993		The International Triennial 1993, Osaka, Japan National Printmaking Exhibition, The Mall Gallery, London, UK The Second Sapporo International Print Biennale, Sapporo, Japan Manchester Academy Annual Exhibition, Manchester, UK
1992		Two Artist Exhibition, Central Fine Art Academy Gallery, Beijing, China China International Art Gallery, Beijing, China
1990		Exhibition with five other artists, Dusseldorf, Germany
1989		Seventh National Art Exhibition, Beijing, China Chengdu, China Japan Economic Cultural Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
1988		Exhibition for four artists, China National Fine Art Gallery, Beijing, China
1984		Sichuan Fine Art Academy Exhibition, China National Fine Art Gallery, Beijing, China

Awards
1998		The Sponsor's Prize, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan
1997		The Guinness Prize for the Best First-Time Exhibitor, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
1996		The First Prize, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan
1995		The Pollock- Krasner Foundation Award, New York, USA
1994		The Sakai City Prize, Osaka, Japan
1989		Sichuan Art Exhibition: Award of Excellence, Chendu, China
1989		Printmaking Exhibition to Commemorate Lu Xun. Award of Excellence, Chengdu, China
Public Collections
Boehringer/Ingelheim Art Collection, Berkshire, UK The Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan Clifford Chance Art Collection, London The Guinness Art Collection, Guinness PLC, London The Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan The Centre of Contemporary Arts & Culture, Osaka, Japan October Gallery, London The Centre of Contemporary Arts & Culture, Osaka, Japan The British Museum, UK The Sichuan Fine Art Academy Gallery, China

XU ZHONGMIN

Xu Zhongmin Selected Works

Media

Xu Zhongmin

OCTOBER GALLERY ARTISTS