ABOUT
Xiao Lu uses an intuitive perspective, experiential coordinates, and perceptual awareness to record her sensitive and opinionated observations of the world within the specific context of her life.
XIAOLU
Xiao Lu was born in Hangzhou, China in 1962. She graduated from the High School Affiliated to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1984. In 1988, she graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art) in Hangzhou, China. She currently lives and creates art in Beijing, China and London, UK.
As a practitioner of Chinese Contemporary art from the 1980s to the present, Xiao Lu uses an intuitive perspective, experiential coordinates, and perceptual awareness to record her sensitive and opinionated observations of the world within the specific context of her life. Her works encompass performance, installation, photography, and painting.
Works included in major exhibitions and publications: “Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now” Auckland Art Gallery (2026), exhibition catalogue (English version) published by Auckland Art Gallery 2026; “Bearing Winteen: Contempoary Asian art from NGV collections” NGV, Australia (2026); “The China Moment: Contextualizing Individualism an Chinese Contemporary Art,” Documents Institute, Kasseler Kunstveren, Germany (2026), exhibition catalogue (English version) published by HATJE CANTZ 2026; “Xiao Lu: First Gunshot of Chinese Feminist Art” (solo show), Bonn Women’s Museum, Germany (2025-2026), exhibition catalogue (English version) published by Bonn Women’s Museum 2025; “Connecting Bodies: Asian Female Artists,” MMCA Seoul, South Korea (2024-2025), exhibition catalogue (Korean and English versions) published by MMCA Seoul 2025; “Engaging with the World: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art Since the 20th Century,” Taikang Art Museum, Beijing, China (2023-2024), exhibition catalogue (Chinese and English versions) published by Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Publishing House, China 2023; “Stepping Out! Female Identities in Contemporary Chinese Art,” Lillehammer Museum, Norway, GL Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark. Strand and Salzburg Museum of Modern Art, Austria (2022-2023), exhibition catalogue (English edition) published by HATJE CANTZ 2022; “Empowerment”, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2022), exhibition catalogue (German and English edition) published by Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg 2022; “Collection: Democracy” Tate Liverpool, UK (2020-2023); “China – The Past and Present” NGV, Australia (2022-2023); “20th-Century Galleries Collection 1960s-2000” Art Gallery of NSW, Australia (2022); “Collection Galleries: 1970s to Present” MoMA, New York, USA (2019-2020); “Xiao Lu: Impossible Dialogue” (solo show) 4A Centre Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, Australia (2019); “Collection Displays: Performers and Participants” Tate Modern, London, UK (2018-2019); “Her Kind” Zhuzhong Art Museum, Beijing, China (2018), exhibition catalogue (Chinese-English edition) published by Zhuzhong Art Museum 2018; “Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World”, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (2017-2018), exhibition catalogue (English version) published by Guggenheim Museum 2017; “Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art”, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China (2016); “Bald Girls” Iberia Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2012), exhibition catalogue (Chinese-English edition) published by Iberia Center for Contemporary Art 2012; “New Wave: The Birth of Chinese Contemporary Art”, UCCA, Beijing, China (2007-2008); “China/Avant-Garde”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (1989).
Important publications related to the works: “Invisible Ink: Feminism and Identity in Contemporary Chinese Art” (English version), by Luise Guest, BLOOMSBURRY, UK, 2026. “She Persisted* (English edition), NGV, Australia, 2022; “Feminist Art” (English edition), Tate Modern, UK, 2022; “Great Female Artists” (English edition), PHAIDON, UK, 2019. “Chinese Feminist Art” (Chinese-English edition), by Tong Yujie, Today Art Museum, China, 2018. “Global Modernity and 20th Century Chinese Contemporary Art” (English edition), by Gao Minglu, MIT Press, 2011; “Dialogue” (Chinese-English edition), by Xiao Lu, University of Hong Kong Press, 2010.
Important museum and private art collections: Taikang Art Museum, Beijing, China; Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing, China; Zhuzhong Art Museum, Beijing, China; Tate Modern, London, UK; MoMA, New York, USA; NGV, Melbourne, Australia; Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Australia; White Rabbit Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia; Arario Museum, Seoul, South Korea.
