CAO Xiaoyang

曹曉陽

works in Hangzhou (b.1968, Zhenjiang)

Xiaoyang once said: ‘All my exhibitions have one single theme: shanshui.’

Xiaoyang has devoted himself exclusively to shanshui art (Literally, ‘mountains and water’; the Chinese concept of brush-and-ink landscape painting.) for over ten years. And through all these years, each time Xiaoyang paints, it seems that he is seeking to evoke the archetypal shanshui scroll: the scroll that has endured through thousands of years, through the ravages of time, the invasions of insects, the turmoil of war, and that retains faint, misty traces still discernible on its surface. This scroll, in itself, is shanshui.

How, then, to define shanshui? It is more than the physical scenery that appears before our eyes. It transcends the forests, springs, hills and valleys we have travelled through in our lifetimes. Shanshui is a perfect oneness, an organic amalgamation of mountains, rivers, roads and paths, cliffs and rocks, trees and groves. In a shanshui painting, all things appear before us in a balanced equality. Its form can change in a single breath, as the myriad elements of nature shift and emerge, and the mountains and rivers coalesce. It is an endless series of images, wherein all that is above and below, in foreground and background, appears in a vast continuity, without breaks or borders, a single broad perspective without end or vanishing point.

1968	Born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province.
1994	Graduated from the Print-making Department of the China Academy of Art.
2002	Master of Arts, Print-making Department, China Academy of Art.
2010	Deputy Director of the Print-making Department, China Academy of Art.
	Deputy Secretary of the Zhejiang Province Association of Print-making Artists.
2012	Head of The Foundation Studies Branch of the China Academy of Art.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2014	THE TWENTY-FOUR SOLAR TERMS: Paintings by Cao Xiaoyang, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
	Landscape, Tianhong Mei Heyuan Arts Center, Hangzhou, China
2011	Landscape: Cao Xiaoyang & Tong Biao’s Double Solo Exhibition, A4 Contemporary Arts Center, Chengdu, China

Selected Group Exhibitions
2015	Magical Mountains: Hanart TZ Gallery at Art Basel HK 2015, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
2014	Fine Art Asia 2013, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
	St.art: International Exhibition of the Chinese Contemporary Ceramic Art, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2013	Hermit’s Springs: Calligraphy, Landscape Painting and Garden-making, West Lake Expo Museum, Hangzhou, China
2012	…And the Tradition is, Museum of Contemporary Art of CAA, Hangzhou, China
2011	The End of the Brush and Ink Era: Chinese Landscape, True Color Museum, Suzhou, China
	Burden and Seek: Road of the China Academy of Art Print-making, Museum of Contemporary Art of CAA, Hangzhou, China
	TOP Line — the Grand Exhibition of the 90th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
	Lu Xun’s Face — the 80th anniversary of China’s emerging woodcut movement & the 130th anniversary of Lu Xun Memorial Exhibition, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2010	Reason for Watercolor — The Hangzhou Invitational Exhibition of Watercolor Art, Museum of Contemporary Art of CAA, Hangzhou, China
2008	Zhejiang Famous Prints Invitation Exhibition, Zhejiang Exhibition Hall, Hangzhou, China
2007	Derailed: The First Phase Of Chinese Contemporary Art In Anhui Province, U-town, Hefei, China
2006	15 years of Printmaking in Zhejiang, Xiuhu Park, Yiwu, China
2001	Affix, Impression Gallery, Hangzhou, China
2000	The 5th National College Printmaking Teaching Annual Exhibition, Guangzhou Museum Of Art, Guangzhou, China

Awards
2011	The Excellent Work, The 19^th National Exhibition of Print Works
2009	Third Prize, Gazing the History: The Art Exhibition of Significant History and Culture Events in Zhejiang
2004	Gold Award, The 11th Art Works Exhibition of Zhejiang Province
2000	Annual Award, The 5th session of the National Institutions of higher Art Printmaking Conference Exhibition
1995	The Academy Award, The 3rd session of the National Institutions of Higher Art Printmaking Conference Exhibition
1994	Prize of Excellence, the 2^nd Young Artists’ Fine Arts Exhibition of Zhejiang Province
	The Museum Prize, Tomihari Woodcut Museum, Japan

Curated Exhibitions
2013	The Foundation Studies Branch of the China Academy of Arts, Down to the Countryside Movement (Shangshan Xiaxiang) Education Organizer
2012	The Foundation Studies Branch of the China Academy of Arts, Down to the Countryside Movement (Shangshan Xiaxiang) Education Organizer
	Calligraphy Art Exhibition of Wang Dongling, Large-scale exhibition and execution, Embarking (Chufa), Organizer
2011	Heavy Burdens and Reunions, (Zhongfu yu Chongmi) Exhibit Organizer
	Lu Xun’s face — the 80th anniversary of China’s emerging woodcut movement & the 130th anniversary of Lu Xun Memorial Exhibition, Exhibit Organizer
	TOP Line—Grand Exhibition of the 90th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, Exhibition Planning and Execution
	The Way of Print Art in CAA, (Guo Mei Ban Hua Zhi Lu) Exhibition Planning

Edited Books
2011	The Way of Print Art in CAA (Guo Mei Ban Hua Zhi Lu)
2010	Xujiang: The Most Sunflower Garden
2008	Shanghai Biennial 2008
2006	Shanghai Biennial 2006
	Xujiang: At a Distance (Yuan Wang)
2004	Shanghai Biennial 2004
	Xujiang: Shanghai Mirage
2003	Edges of the Earth: Time in Asia