Lu Xinjian

Shanghai, China

Coming from a design background and influenced by his own design practice, artist Lu Xinjian brings his particular understanding of the relationships among lines, shapes and colors into his artistic practice. It’s only natural when he shifted his practice into the artistic realm, that these elements remain the most prominent in his artistic works.

Almost by accident, Google Earth became Lu’s source of inspiration, as well as his crucial artistic instrument in the “City DNA” series; in this series of works, he traces the bird’s eye view landscapes of parts of different cities from around the world and abstracts them into simple patterns and lines.

Since 2009, after the "City DNA" series, Lu has continued to create even more series: "Invisible Poems", "City Stream", "Constellation" and "Reflections".

Lu’s works seamlessly combine simplicity and complexity, abstraction and concept. From each painting, the viewers can grasp the visual characteristics of a certain city at a glance, yet the content itself is so complex since the cityscape embodies the historical, economic and political history of that particular city to this day. Visually, the abstract presentation may seem randomly composed by lines, shapes and colors, yet the concept behind the works is rich and concrete.

Exhibitions Group Exhibition: Shanghai Calling April 27, 2024 - June 25, 2024 Lu Xinjian: Illuminations November 06, 2023 - December 19, 2023 Group Exhibition: First Light January 17, 2022 - February 28, 2022 Electric Picnic July 24, 2021 - September 08, 2021 Eternal City April 18, 2020 - May 30, 2020 Summer Wave July 27, 2019 - August 21, 2019 4²+1 April 14, 2019 - June 06, 2019 Paint the Web Pink January 21, 2018 - March 05, 2018 Reflections October 30, 2017 - December 01, 2017 New Space Soft Opening Exhibition July 03, 2017 - July 27, 2017 10 Years of Love February 19, 2017 - March 22, 2017 Lost Opportunities? September 03, 2016 - October 12, 2016 Constellation November 07, 2015 - December 08, 2015 City Stream September 06, 2014 - October 15, 2014 Wired Space January 11, 2014 - February 28, 2014 I Love Shanghai November 16, 2013 - January 05, 2014 Distance and Dimension June 16, 2012 - July 09, 2012 Invisible Poem March 17, 2012 - April 17, 2012 HIGH 5 - Five Years of ART LABOR September 09, 2011 - October 10, 2011 City DNA September 25, 2010 - October 21, 2010 2nd Impressions August 01, 2010 - August 25, 2010

131 Works

City DNA / Chaoyang Park
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Wuzhen No.4
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Hongcun No.1
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Hongcun No.2
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Hongcun No.3
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Nanxun No.1
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Nanxun No.2
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Zhouzhuang
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Zhenze
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Xitang No.1
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Wuzhen No.3
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Xitang No.2
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Wuzhen No.1
Lu Xinjian

Illuminations / Wuzhen No.2
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Shanghai No.15
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Jiangnan Watertown No.14
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Hongqiao Airport
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Shanghai Exhibition Center
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Weiming Lake
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Water Town No.9
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Beijing No.8
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Yu Garden
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.8
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Los Angeles
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Xujiahui
Lu Xinjian

Jiangnan / Luzhi
Lu Xinjian

Jiangnan / Nanxun
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Shanghai No.12
Lu Xinjian

Constellations
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Forbidden City
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Xinzhuang
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.1
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.4-2
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.6
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.9
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.13
Lu Xinjian

Invisible Poem / In the Style of the Ancients
Lu Xinjian

Invisible Poem / Green Mountain
Lu Xinjian

Invisible Poem / A letter home while heading south to Yelang
Lu Xinjian

Invisible Poem / Sonnets CXVI
Lu Xinjian

Invisible Poem / Sonnet XVIII
Lu Xinjian

Astonishing
Lu Xinjian

Carrying on, letting go
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Bund N1
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Pudong - Lu Jia Zui
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Hang Zhou - West Lake
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Mendriso
Lu Xinjian

City CNA / Bellinzona N1
Lu Xinjian

Aquarius
Lu Xinjian

Pisces
Lu Xinjian

Aries
Lu Xinjian

Taurus
Lu Xinjian

Gemini
Lu Xinjian

Leo
Lu Xinjian

Libra
Lu Xinjian

Scoprius
Lu Xinjian

Sagittarius
Lu Xinjian

Capricornus
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Watertown No.3
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #1
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #2
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #3
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #6
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #7
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #8
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #9
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #10
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #13
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #14
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #15
Lu Xinjian

Impression of Shanghai
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Kowloon
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Amsterdam No.1
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Barcelona
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Beijing
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Brussels
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Forbidden City
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Helsinki
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Hongkong Central
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / London
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Montreal
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Moscow
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / New Deli
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / New York No.2
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / New York No.1
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Paris
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Prague
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Rome
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Shanghai No.2
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Shanghai No.1
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Singapore
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Stockholm
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Taipei
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Tokyo
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Zurich
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Shanghai No.8
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / The Triumph of New York
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Sydney
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Seoul
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Berlin
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Lu Xinjian

City Light: Shanghai Times Square
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #16
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #12
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #5
Lu Xinjian

Wired Space #4
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Watertown No.2
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Corner Tower
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Las Vegas
Lu Xinjian

Virgo
Lu Xinjian

Cancer
Lu Xinjian

Constellation painting (night view)
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Chiasso
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Lucarno N1
Lu Xinjian

City DNA / Lugano N3
Lu Xinjian

Invisible Poem / Sonnet XXX
Lu Xinjian

Invisible Poem / To Wang Lun
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.7
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.5
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.4-3
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.4-1
Lu Xinjian

City Stream / Shanghai No.3
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Macau
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / San Francisco
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Toronto
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / New York No.2
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Vancouver
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Garden Bridge of Shanghai
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / Summer Palace
Lu Xinjian

Reflections / The Imperial Palace Watchtower
Lu Xinjian

CV

BORN

1977 Born in Jiangsu, China

EUCATION

2006
MFA, Interactive Media and Environments at the Frank Mohr Institute, Hanze University, The Netherlands

2005
IM Postgraduate Department, Design Academy Eindhoven, The Netherlands

2000
BA, Computer Graphic Design Department, Nanjing Arts Institute, Nanjing, China

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023
Illuminations, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai, China

2022
CITY DNA, CAMPIS, Assen, the Netherlands

2021
Lu Xinjian - City DNA, Feefan's Art, Beijing, China

2020
Lines Across Time and Space, ZiWU, Shanghai
The Eternal City, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2018
City DNA - Xinjian Lu, European Institute of Contemporary Art and Science, Zutphen, The Netherlands
Boogie Woogie, De Sarthe Gallery, Hongkong, China

2017
Reflections, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai, China
Lu Xinjian: City DNA + Reflections, Fabien Fryns Fine Art, Marbella, Spain
Infinite Lines, de Sarthe Gallery, Beijing

2016
City DNA / Jiang Nan, Matthew Liu Fine Arts, Shanghai

2015
Constellation, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2014
City Stream, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
City DNA IV, Hua Gallery, London, UK
Lu Xinjian: Beautiful Encounters - Cities and Poems, 117 Contemporary Art Center, Ningbo, China
Wired Space, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2012
Invisible Poem II, F2 Gallery, Beijing
Invisible Poem, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2011
City DNA III, Fabien Fryns Fine Art, Los Angels
City DNA II, F2 Gallery, Beijing

2010
City DNA, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024
Shanghai Calling, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai, China

2019
Personal Structures, Palazzo Mora, Venice, Italy
4²+1, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai, China

2018
Paint the Web Pink, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2016
Eja-Xinjian, Beetsterzwaag, The Netherlands

2015
NULNU, Annesas Appel, Lu Xinjian, Henk Peeters, Herman de Vries, Nieuw Dakota Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
THING-IN-ITSELF: The invisible Felling of Deprival, Art Museum of Nanjing Uniersity of the Arts, Nanjing, China

2014
ARTifical Garden, World Financial Center, Shanghai
The Temporary, ARTicle Gallery, Birmingham, UK

2013
I Love Shanghai, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
FILTER THE PUBLIC, SWFC, Shanghai

2012
Distance and Dimension, Fernando Bordoni & Lu Xinjian, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
Re-animators, Meulensteen Gallery, New York, USA
The Year of Dragon, Chen Hangfeng & Lu Xinjian, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada

2011
High 5, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2010
Basic Forms by Stella Art Foundation, 2nd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Russia

2009
Resemblance & Difference, Daegu Art Center, Korea

ART PROJECTS

2022
Carlberg 175 Years, Flowing from Denmark to China

2020
Post Opulence, Rolls-Royce, China

2018
Noise-Cancelling by You, NIKE, Shanghai 101 House of Innovation, China

2014
City / Neighbor, Adidas Originals, Shanghai

2013
Expressions Of My City, Lane Crawford, Shanghai

2011
Absolut Blank, Absolut Vodka, Shanghai

2010
City DNA, Maison Pourcel by Jacques & Laurent Pourcel, Shanghai

IMPORTANT COLLECTIONS

Power Long Museum (China)
Anxin Trust (China)
Sheraton Shanghai Hongkou Hotel (China)
The White Rabbit Collection (Australia)
Sydney Rhodes Library (Australia)
The Municipality of Assen (The Netherlands)
EICAS Museum (The Netherlands)
Loens & Loeff (the Netherland)
DSL Collection (France)
LVMH (France)
The CFCCA in Manchester (UK)
Rolls Royce (UK)
LVMH (France)
Carlsberg (Denmark)
Swiss Re Management (Switzerland)
amongst numerous of excellent private collections across China and the world