Richard Deacon is a leading British sculptor and the Turner Prize winner. His first solo exhibition in China will take place at Beijing Commune on 17th March, presenting new works from two of his on-going series Custom and Alphabet. The UCCA talk attempts to discuss the challenge and new possibility of sculpture as a medium of contemporary art.

Richard Deacon started his art practice since the 1970s, and won the Turner Prize in the 80s. In 2014, his major retrospective was taken place at Tate Britain. Richard Deacon is a significant participant in the progress of contemporary British art, so he will talk about contemporary British art in relation to his own experience. At the same time, Richard Deacon has visited China for many times, in the occasion of realizing exhibitions, commissions and educational programs, which allows him to collaborate with artist Sui Jianguo and Liang Shuo at multiple levels. Therefore, Richard Deacon will have dialogues with these two contemporary Chinese artists in a comparative approach. The British curator and art critic Karen Smith, who is one of the earliest observers and practitioners of contemporary Chinese art with a specific cultural identity, will make insightful comments about the interwoven of these speakers’ experience.

Speakers

Richard Deacon

Richard Deacon（b.1949) received his BA from St Martin’s School of Art, London in 1972, and MA from the Royal College of Art, London in 1977. The artist currently lives and works in London. Richard Deacon won the Turner Prize in 1987. A major retrospective titled “The Missing Part” was shown at the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, in 2010. Tate Britain mounted a major survey in 2014. Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland held a ten-year survey “On The Other Side” in 2015. A retrospective of his prints and drawings was presented at the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany in 2016.

Karen Smith

Karen Smith is a British art critic, curator and art historian specializing in contemporary art in China since 1979. Karen Smith has lived in Beijing since 1992. She joined the academic advisory board of OCAT Shenzhen in 2005, and was appointed executive director of OCAT Xi’an in 2012. Karen Smith has authored books including the series As Seen (begun in 2012) and Nine Lives: The Birth of Avant-Garde Art in New China (2008). She curated group exhibitions at Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2016); Rockbund Art Museum Shanghai (2013) and Tate Liverpool, UK (2007).

Sui Jianguo

Sui Jianguo（b.1956）received his MFA from the Central Academy of Fine Arts Sculpture Department in 1989. He is a professor teaching at Department of Sculpture in CAFA. The artist currently lives and works in Beijing. Sui Jianguo’s significant soho shows include “Sui Jianguo: Trace” taken place at Pace Beijing (2017) ; “Sui Jianguo: Touchable” held at Pace Beijing (2015) and “Restrained Power: Sui Jianguo’s Work” taken place at MOCA Singapore(2012). His work has been featured in the 1st Anren Biennale(2017) and the 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012). The Sui Jianguo Foundation was officially established in 2016 with the mission of establishing a comprehensive system for collection and scholarship on the artist, via an international vision firmly rooted in China.

Liang Shuo

Liang Shuo (b.1976) graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2000, majoring in Sculpture. From 2002 to 2007, he taught Sculpture at Tsinghua University–Academy of Arts and Design. From 2005 to 2006, he was an artist-in-residence at the Royal Academy of Art, the Netherlands. From 2009, he started teaching at the Sculpture department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The artist currently works and lives in Beijing. Jiang Shuo’s recent solo show “DISTANT tantamount MOUNTAIN” was held at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden in 2017. His works have been featured in numerous important exhibitions, including the 9th Shanghai Biennale “Reactivation” (2012); the 3rd Shanghai Biennale (2000) and Busan Biennale (2004).