Zhou Fan

Shanghai, China

Zhou Fan is well known for his astonishingly detailed drawings and paintings that depict fantastical nature scenes. Often working without drafts, plans or pre-set ideas, Zhou Fan’s large works take from 8 months to 3 years to finish. Dreams, memory, hallucinations, and fantasy have all been the thread and substance of Zhou Fan’s practice throughout the last decade. His previous series of artworks brought his audiences into a realm of imagination with out-of-this-world scenes and a sumptuous and unusual color palette.

In his 2015 solo exhibition "Mute", roadways, strong, artificial colors and illusory landscapes wavered between reality and fantasy, the foremost visual features in these previous works which took a look at life's journey from a neutral almost nihilistic perspective. Meditating on the relationship between that which is manmade and things of natural world, between the city and the wild, these works were the artist's attempt at making sense of the intricate eco system we inhabit. Captured in this group of work, the artist takes his audiences on an illusory and adventurous “road trip” where we know no beginning or ending.

Over the past two years, Zhou Fan has shifted his interest onto different subjects of investigation, moving from the external landscape to an internal geography, both physical and psychological. Looking back at his artistic practice for over a decade, Zhou Fan's visual language has also become more abstract, with less figurative construction and subject, yet still embracing the vibrant palette and exquisite detail for which his work is fast becoming widely known and well admired as his career moves toward mid-career.


Green Valley
Zhou Fan

Tropics
Zhou Fan

Stone Lake Park
Zhou Fan

Zeppelin
Zhou Fan

Desert Sand Feels Warm at Night Pt 1
Zhou Fan

1:00 pm
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.13
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.14
Zhou Fan

Night in the Tropical Mountains and Forests
Zhou Fan

2:00 pm
Zhou Fan

3:00 pm
Zhou Fan

5:01 pm
Zhou Fan

5:02 pm
Zhou Fan

5:03 pm
Zhou Fan

5:40 pm
Zhou Fan

6:00 pm
Zhou Fan

Sandy Highway No.1
Zhou Fan

Sandy Highway No.2
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.1
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.2
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.3
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.4
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.5
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.6
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.7
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.8
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.9
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.10
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.11
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.12
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.13
Zhou Fan

Velvet Street No.14
Zhou Fan

Highway: Day 1
Zhou Fan

Highway: Day 4
Zhou Fan

Highway: Day 5
Zhou Fan

Room 51
Zhou Fan

Hummingbird
Zhou Fan

Wetlands No.2
Zhou Fan

Wetlands No.1
Zhou Fan

Gardens with Mandala Pt1
Zhou Fan

Gardens with Mandala Pt2
Zhou Fan

Pollen 18
Zhou Fan

Pollen 20
Zhou Fan

Pollen 22
Zhou Fan

Pollen 24
Zhou Fan

Pollen 26
Zhou Fan

Pollen 25
Zhou Fan

Pollen 23
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Pollen 21
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Pollen 19
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Pollen 17
Zhou Fan

Pollen 16
Zhou Fan

Pollen 15
Zhou Fan

Pollen 14
Zhou Fan

Pollen 13
Zhou Fan

Pollen 9, 10, 11, 12
Zhou Fan

an enormous and slow-moving being
Zhou Fan

Insomnia
Zhou Fan

Tomorrow
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0005
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0014
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0009
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0007
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0004
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0003
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0001
Zhou Fan

Letter to the Sea Anemone
Zhou Fan

Landscape 00:01
Zhou Fan

Forest 4
Zhou Fan

Forests 1
Zhou Fan

Forests 7 II
Zhou Fan

Forest 7 I
Zhou Fan

Toad 1
Zhou Fan

A Recluse
Zhou Fan

Chickadee 2
Zhou Fan

Chickadee 1
Zhou Fan

Swallow
Zhou Fan

Mountain 3:20 am, 5:10 am, 4:20 am, 1:03 am
Zhou Fan

Mountain 0003 10:16 am
Zhou Fan

Landscape 17:30
Zhou Fan

Landscape 13:40
Zhou Fan

Landscape 00:43
Zhou Fan

Landscape 00:27
Zhou Fan

Moutain 0004
Zhou Fan

Mountain 0003
Zhou Fan

Mountain 0002
Zhou Fan

Landscape 00:02
Zhou Fan

Landscape 05:18
Zhou Fan

Landscape 21:08
Zhou Fan

Landscape 21:50
Zhou Fan

Landscape 20:19
Zhou Fan

Rainbow Highway
Zhou Fan

Landscape 01:50
Zhou Fan

Landscape 01:39
Zhou Fan

Phobia 24
Zhou Fan

Phobia 25
Zhou Fan

Phobia 26
Zhou Fan

Phobia 27
Zhou Fan

Phobia 20
Zhou Fan

Phobia 23
Zhou Fan

Phobia 22
Zhou Fan

Phobia 21
Zhou Fan

Phobia 19
Zhou Fan

Curtain 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8
Zhou Fan

Phobia 18
Zhou Fan

Phobia 16
Zhou Fan

Phobia 17
Zhou Fan

Phobia 15
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0002
Zhou Fan

Ocean 1/3, 2/3, 3/3
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0002, 0005
Zhou Fan

Landscape 23:15
Zhou Fan

Little Boy pt 1
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0001
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0004
Zhou Fan

You Can Hear the Sound of Cicadas at Night
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0005
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0012
Zhou Fan

Phobia 0011
Zhou Fan

Elephant
Zhou Fan

Candy Mountain
Zhou Fan

Pollen 27
Zhou Fan

Pollen 28
Zhou Fan

Pollen 29
Zhou Fan

Pollen 30
Zhou Fan

Pollen 31, 32, 33
Zhou Fan

Pollen 34
Zhou Fan
BORN

1983 in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province

EDUCATION

2006
BFA, Art College, Shanxi University, China

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023
Paradise, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2019
Pollen, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2017
Phobia, OCAT, Xi'an
Melt, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2015
Zhou Fan: Mute, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2013
Zhou Fan Solo Exhibition, Art Beijing, Beijing

2012
Zhou Fan Solo Exhibition, NUOART, Beijing

2010
Dream Catcher in the Rye - Zhou Fan Solo Exhibition, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai

2008
Zhou Fan Solo Exhibition, Art Scene China, Shanghai

2004
ITCHY Solo Exhibition, Shanxi University, Taiyuan

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
Dissolution of Form, HDL Museum, Chengdu
Aurora, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2022
First Light, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2021
Electric Picnic, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2020
Worlds on Paper, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
A Spirit was Seen from the Window - The Art Collection Case of Chinese Young Artists Since 1999, Hiart Space, Shanghai

2019
Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Four Squared Plus One, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
Summer Wave, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2018
Paint the Web Pink, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2017
New Space Soft Opening Exhibition, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
10 Years of Love, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2016
Fireflowers, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
Ulysses' Gaze - The Return of Painterliness and Soulful Contemplation, Ginkgo Art Center, Beijing

2015
Bites Back, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2014
Dreaming in Color, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai

2009
Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, Canada
Three - Two - One Art Exhibition, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai
Highlights of the Chinese Art Prize 2005 - 2008, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai
The White Exhibition 2 - Group Exhibition of Emerging Chinese Contemporary Artists, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai
Get Real!, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai
Group Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, Dubai

2008
Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany
The White Exhibition - Contemporary Emerging Chinese Art Exhibition, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai

2007
Top 20 Artists’ Exhibition, Chinese Art Prize 2007, Honorable Mention Award, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai
Art Beijing, Beijing
1981 Design and Art, Zendai MOMA, Shanghai

2006
Here Comes the Christmas, Zendai MOMA, Shanghai

ART PROJECTS

2017
Made in CNY, Apple Inc.
Candy Mountain Music Festival, An'ren, Sichuan Province

2009
Météo Music Festival, Mulhouse, France