Ren Zhitian

Beijing, China

Beijing based painter / sculptor / performance artist Ren Zhitian has had 5 solo shows at ART LABOR. Working with materials ranging from marble to rice paper, he sculpts and paints, leading with an instinctive sense, with his latest exhibition ‘Insight and Mind’ (ART LABOR, 2016) originating from a more subconscious range – automatic painting focussing on form and revealing the depth of the thought process itself.

Ren's works deal with the more philosophical questions facing both his country and humanity today. He approaches this neither with cynicism nor any particular agenda, but more with a sense of intuition. It is a personal observation with a universally understood message and doesn't wish to instruct the viewer in the viewer's own critique. Rather he creates from a true inner sense of things, of his own identity and how this relates to objects and things happening around him, and not allowing the clearly foolish paths taken by humanity, and the subsequent loss to nature, history and culture, to affect his own personal life and inner consciousness.

Ren’s work has been shown and collected around the world, in Shanghai and Hong Kong, Berlin and Beijing, Italy (included an important offsite exhibition in the 55th Venice Biennale), and as far away as Uruguay. Some of the very active and prolific artist's recent solo exhibitions including “Insight and Mind”, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2016); "Items & Intuition", ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2013); "Empty & Elegance", ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2011); "Everywhere is Here", ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2009). Some of Ren's recent group exhibitions include "The Materialist Postscript", Galerie Philine Cremer International Contemporary Art in collaboration with Intelligentsia Gallery, China (2016); ""The Silence of Sirens", 1st The Door Art, 798 Space, Beijing (2015); "Nowhere Village", Zhong Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2015); "MICROSCOPE - The Inner Mindscape of Contemporary Chinese Artists", Leo Gallery, Shanghai & Hong Kong (2015); "Soft Abstraction as Constellation", UCCA Store, Art Basel, Hong Kong (2015); "Today, Praise the Tea", Today Art Museum, Beijing (2015); "Uneasy Trip in Asia 2014-stage 2", Star Gallery, Beijing (2014), among many more. He presently lives and works in Beijing.

Exhibitions 10 Years of Love February 19, 2017 - March 22, 2017 Insight & Mind March 19, 2016 - April 22, 2016 Dreaming in Color July 05, 2014 - August 25, 2014 Items & Intuition July 20, 2013 - August 31, 2013 HIGH 5 - Five Years of ART LABOR September 09, 2011 - October 10, 2011 Elegant & Empty February 19, 2011 - March 19, 2011 2nd Impressions August 01, 2010 - August 25, 2010 Everywhere is Here July 11, 2009 - August 15, 2009 Script & View March 15, 2008 - May 15, 2008

69 Works

Every Home Has It's Rough Side
Ren Zhitian

The Great Learning – Africa
Ren Zhitian

The Chuang-tzu A Happy Excursion – Aircraft Carrierr
Ren Zhitian

The Art of War Attacking by Fire – Iraq
Ren Zhitian

The Analects of Confucius – map of the world
Ren Zhitian

The Analects of Confucius – Taiwan
Ren Zhitian

The Analects of Confucius – Bomber
Ren Zhitian

The Analects of Confucius – the Map of the World
Ren Zhitian

Painting the Analects into the Stars and the Stripes No.7
Ren Zhitian

Kismet – the Globe
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Calligraphy Brick No.3
Ren Zhitian

Calligraphy Brick No.4
Ren Zhitian

Not So Foolish_Perseverance III
Ren Zhitian

Not So Foolish Perseverance II
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Not So Foolish Perseverance I
Ren Zhitian

A Lifestyle of Freedom
Ren Zhitian

Arctic Pole
Ren Zhitian

The Soft Wind of Dong Ting
Ren Zhitian

Silent Hill After Fresh Rain
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Emperor
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Antarctica
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As Good as Water
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Elegant and Exhausted No.19
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Elegant and Exhausted No.18
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Elegant and Exhausted No.17
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Elegant and Exhausted No.16
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Elegant and Exhausted No.15
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Elegant and Exhausted No.14
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Elegant and Exhausted No.13
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Elegant and Exhausted No.12
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Elegant and Exhausted No.10
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Elegant and Exhausted No.4
Ren Zhitian

Repeat 1
Ren Zhitian

Kitty
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FU paper cut for window
Ren Zhitian

Seawater
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Red Flower A
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Hollywood
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Seaside in Okinawa
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Falling Seashells
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As Good As Water – Iceberg A
Ren Zhitian

Toothpicks
Ren Zhitian

Subjective Object – A4
Ren Zhitian

Please touch it
Ren Zhitian

Tiger Tail
Ren Zhitian

An Epigraph in Praise of My Humble Home
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20160103
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20160106
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20160109
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20160112
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201508005
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201508007
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201508004
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201508003
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201508001
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201508010
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201508009
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Self into Stone No.4
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Self into Stone No.3
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Self into Stone No.2
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Self into Stone No.1
Ren Zhitian

The Tibetan Book of the Dead – The Pentagon
Ren Zhitian

Calligraphy Brick No.5
Ren Zhitian

Boats on Lugu Lake
Ren Zhitian

Exquisite Hurt
Ren Zhitian

The River and Sea Can Be Kings of the Hundred Valley Streams
Ren Zhitian

20160108
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201508008
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Self into Stone 1, 2, 3, 4
Ren Zhitian

CV

BORN

1968 in Hubei Province, China

EDUCATION

1989
Wuhan University, China

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016
Insight & Mind, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2013
Items & Intuition, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2011
Empty & Elegant, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2009
Everywhere Is Here, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2008
Scrip and View, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

1998
Ren Zhitian's Painting Exhibition, Artist Club, Beijing

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2017
New Space Grand Opening Exhibition, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2016
The Materialist Postscript, Galerie Philine Cremer International Contemporary Art in collaboration with Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing
A Great Event is in the Making. But No One Has Noticed, Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing

2015
EMBAJADAS REFUGIADOS MANIFIESTOS, Intelligentsia Gallery in Collaboration with Proyecto Casamario, Uruguay
0.10, Unicorn Centre for Contemporary Art in collaboration with Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing
Confronting Anitya – Oriental Experience in Contemporary Art, Chengdu
Fashion & Art charity exhibition experience, the Moon Ship (former Shanghai World Expo Saudi Arabia Pavilion), Shanghai
The Silence of Sirens, 1st The Door Art, 798 Space, Beijing
QiYi Art Festival, Shanghai, China
Nowhere Village, Zhong Gallery, Berlin, Germany
MICROSCOPE The Inner Mindscape of Contemporary Chinese Artists, Leo Gallery, Shanghai & Hong Kong
Nowhere Village-LIVE AT #33, Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing
Soft Abstraction as Constellation, UCCA Store, Art Basel, Hong RHETORICAL MATERIALISM, Intelligentsia Gallery and the CCA presents, Beijing
Today, Praise the Tea, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Confronting Anitya, Provence/Austria

2014
Superfold: Connective Multiplicities or Coiling Ad Infinitum, Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing
Confronting Anitya – Oriental Experience in Contemporary Art, Shandong Time Museum, Shandong
Soft Abstraction as Constellation, UCCA Store, Beijing
The Ways of Object Being Named, MAO SPACE, Shanghai
Uneasy Trip in Asia 2014-stage 2, Star Gallery, Beijing
Semiotic Preoccupations: Object, Signs and Symbols, Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing
Dreaming In Color, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
Fusion Convergence, the official opening of T Museum, Hangzhou
We – the Contemporary Painting Exhibition of 8 Artists, WE Gallery, Shanghai
Confronting Anitya – Oriental Experience in Contemporary Art, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing
Confronting Anitya – Oriental Experience in Contemporary Art, Bonn, Germany

2013
Encounters, Art Sanya, Sanya, China
The Lightness of Appearance, Jing Gallery, Beijing
Art Project, Gallery Hotel, Beijing
Confronting Anitya – Oriental Experience in Contemporary Art, the 55th Venice Biennale Offsite Exhibition, Venice

2012
Notice - Contemporary Art Exhibition, Time Space, Beijing
UNO SGUARDO AL FUTURO, Biennale Italy - China, Viale Brianza, Monza, Italy
The 1st International Ink Painting Biennale, Shenzhen
Elegant mountain and water, White Box Museum of Art, Beijing
Beyond Representation-An Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, Tiancheng International Auction, Hong Kong
Living • Being - Sine - Dutch Contemporary Art Exhibition, Song Zhuang Art Center, Beijing
The Noumena, re-C Art Space, Chengdu
Grow, PIFO new art gallery, Beijing
Announcement, 798 Space, Beijing

2011
The Era of Ink Painting, Shanghai Doulun MoMA, Shanghai
Unexpected Issues, Art Channel, Beijing
Calligraphy No.1, 800 Art, Shanghai
In the Wild, Shangyuan Art Center, Beijing
White Eye, Egg Gallery, Beijing

2010
2nd Impression, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
Calligraphy • Consciousness, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Tianjin
Moving House!, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
The possibility of Uncertainty – 798 and the surrounding community youth art exhibition, Songzhuang Art Museum, Beijing

2009
1ST Ink Painting Biennale, Linzhou and Beijing
From 5.8m: An exhibition of contemporary art, Li-Space, Beijing
Transformational Hexagram, Art Channel, Beijing

2008
Fantasy Was Reflected in Reality, Up Art Space, Beijing
798 Loft Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, 798 Originality Square, Beijing
Chinese Ink Art Works Gathering Exhibition, Huantie Times Art Museum, Beijing
Combination of Ingredient – Dialogue between Chinese and Greece Artists, MOCA, Shanghai
Seoul Biennial Calligraphy Art Exhibition, Seoul, Korea
Golden Lianzhou Contemporary Art Exhibition, Beijing
Heiqiao Contemporary Art Exhibition, Beijing
The Second Mulpa Space Art Exhibition, Mulpa Space Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2007
Striking Today - Ren Zhitian Chinese Ink Experiment Exhibition
Zhong Zhao – Responding with Mountain & Water Art Works Exhibition, 798 XYZ Gallery, Beijing
Art Exhibition of Artists Living in Songzhuang, Songzhuang Art Museum, Beijing

1997
4th Exhibition in New Auto Art Corridor, Yingdong Natatorium, Beijing

1996
1st Open Exhibition in New Auto Art Corridor, Yingdong Natatorium, Beijing

RESIDENCY

2016
Swatch Art Peace Hotel Artists in Residence Program, Shanghai