QIU XIAOFEI

Early Years

Qiu Xiaofei was born in Harbin in 1977 and raised in a household that combined the influences of government with those of arts and literature. His maternal grandfather studied in the Soviet Union and became a leader of the Chinese Communist Party, moving his mother and her family from Beijing to Harbin when he was branded a Trotskyite. His paternal grandfather, by contrast, was a playwright and Qiu’s father worked for his troupe. Qiu graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 2002 and rose to prominence during the early 2000s as part of a new generation of Chinese contemporary artists.

Qiu Xiaofei: Artworks

Qiu Xiaofei’s style has evolved over time: before 2010, his realistic paintings were mostly inspired by his own memories and what he described in 2022 as “self-therapy”. He moved towards abstraction, but then combined this with figuration. Qiu’s artistic practice examines the idea of the past, present and future co-existing, supported by the concept of time moving in a spiral. He considers the present by blending ideas from the past (from Russian political figures to Sampul tapestry) with elements of illusion, fiction and allegory. Whether the painting engages with history or the present, Qiu said in 2026 that “what reaches the canvas is ultimately a trace of human consciousness”.

• Created during the Covid-19 pandemic, Red (2020) sees Qiu use multiple shades of red as his background, with a man with a broken arm in the foreground. This person first appeared in A Still Indigo (2010) but also references Qiu’s emotions and feelings surrounding the death of his father.
• In Belovezhskaya Forest (2019–2021), family memories merged with deconstructed historical figures (Trotsky’s in there) in a dreamlike composition that Qiu says he “spent years immersed in”. It went on display at MoMA in New York City in September 2025.
• Qiu’s 2026 exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in New York City, The Theatre of Whither and Thrive, came about following the artist’s discovery of some undeveloped rolls of camera film among his late father’s belongings. The film contained images of Qiu’s childhood, and he said rediscovering them felt like “pushing open a door that had long been shut”. The pictures Qiu created depicted the decline and renewal of the world, with images and figures from the films scattered through the backgrounds of the artworks.

Qiu Xiaofei: Select Exhibitions

Select Solo Exhibitions

• The Theatre of Wither and Thrive, Hauser & Wirth, New York City (2026)
• BARE, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels (2024)
• Divination, Pace Gallery, New York City (2021)
• An Artist’s Case-study Exhibition Part II: Trotsky Grew into a Tree, New Century Art Foundation, Beijing (2020)
• An Artist’s Case-study Exhibition Part I: RED, New Century Art Foundation, Beijing (2020)
• Fade Out, Pace Gallery, Seoul (2018)
• Pine or Willow, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong (2017)
• Double Pendulum, Pace Gallery, New York City (2016)
• Apollo Bangs Dionysus, Pace Gallery, Beijing (2014)
• Rauschenberg Said, “The Walking Stick is Longer than the Maulstick, after All”, Beijing Commune (2013)
• Qiu Xiaofei: Repetition, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2013)
• Point of No Return, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing (2010)
• Invisible Journeys, Doosan Art Centre, Seoul (2009)
• Pagoda of the Discarded, Art and Public Gallery, Geneva (2008)
• House of Recollected Fragments, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing (2008)
• Recent Works, Galerie Loft, Paris (2006)
• Heilongjiang Box, Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (2006)

Select Group Exhibitions

• Love Unknown, G Museum, Nanjing (2025)
• Chine, une nouvelle génération d’artistes, Pompidou Centre, Paris (2024)
• M+ Sigg Collection: Another Story, M+, Hong Kong (2023)
• ON|OFF2021: Carousel of Progress, He Art Museum, Foshan (2022)
• Signs, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong (2021)
• The Logic of Painting, Shijiazhuang Art Museum, Shijiazhuan (2020)
• Symbiosis: The Intertextuality of Art and Poetry, OCAT, Shenzhen (2019)
• Surface Work, Victoria Miro, London (2018)
• Summer Days (and Summer Nights), Pace Gallery, New York City (2017)
• Self, Massimo De Carlo, London (2016)
• Full of Peril and Weirdness, M Woods, Beijing (2015)
• My Generation: Young Chinese Artists, Tampa Museum of Art (2014) (and touring)
• Beijing Voice: Relations, Pace Gallery, Beijing (2013)
• Art Berlin Contemporary (2012)
• MengLong-Darkness: Collateral Events of the 54th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale (2011)
• Negotiation: the Second Today’s Documents, Today Art Museum, Beijing (2010)
• The 10th Havana Biennial (2009)
• New World Order: Contemporary Installation Art and Photography from China, Groninger Museum (2008)
• The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China, Tate Liverpool (2007)
• N12–No 4, C5 Art Centre, Beijing (2006)
• Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, Kunstmuseum, Berne (2005)
• Painting, TaiKang Top Space, Beijing (2004)
• N12, Art Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing (2003)
• Back, Beijing Contemporary Art Museum, Beijing (2001)
• The Second Factory Time, YunFeng Gallery, Beijing (2000)

Further Reading

• Qiu Xiaofei’s Instagram
• Artist profile page at Hauser & Wirth
• Artist profile page at Xavier Hufkens
• Interview with Art Asia Pacific (2022)
• Qiu Xiaofei: In the Studio (2026)

Qiu Xiaofei FAQs

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