Announcements
Video
Jia Aili
Our Century, Part 1
Filmed by Jia Aili’s friend Wen Cheng, this two-part video documents the artist creating We Are from the Century (2008–11), his largest painting to date, measuring more than 19 feet high and 49 feet wide. Part 1 includes archival video footage and offers insight into Jia’s process through a look at reference images and views of the work in progress.
Still from “Jia Aili: Our Century, Part 1”
Video
Jia Aili
Our Century, Part 2
This video—the second segment of a two-part video documenting the production of Jia Aili’s epic painting We Are from the Century (2008–11)—includes detailed time-lapse footage showing the creation of one of the component panels, a conversation about airplanes with one of the artist’s friends, and source imagery that inspired the work.
Still from “Jia Aili: Our Century, Part 2”
New Representation
Jia Aili
Gagosian is pleased to announce the global representation of Jia Aili, one of China’s foremost contemporary artists. Born in the late 1970s, Jia has developed a practice that reflects on arts and philosophy from both East and West. While the content of his epic figurative paintings is unmistakably of his own time and cultural context, his formal virtuosity and complex layering of narrative reveal a deep and astute working knowledge of the inventions and traditions of painting from the Renaissance to the present day.
Jia Aili, Geometry in the Sky, 2017. Photo: courtesy Jia Aili Studio
Video
Seeker of Hope
Works by Jia Aili
In this video, produced on the occasion of Jia Aili’s exhibition Seeker of Hope at the Singapore Art Museum, museum director Tan Boon Hui and exhibition curator David Chew introduce the show and discuss Jia’s paintings and how they simultaneously are informed by and challenge art history. The artist also speaks about his work.
Still from “Seeker of Hope: Works by Jia Aili”
Museum Exhibitions
On View
Duration
Chinese Art in Transformation
Opened September 25, 2020
Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing
www.msam.cn
Duration: Chinese Art in Transformation attempts to show how every moment that stretches is an absorption of the past, and the endless possibilities of the future are based on the past and the present. The exhibition presents painting, sculpture, installation, video, animation, and more from the 1970s to the present. Work by Hao Liang, Jia Aili, and Zeng Fanzhi is included.
Hao Liang, Eight Views of Xiaoxiang—Snowscape, 2014–15 © Hao Liang. Photo: courtesy UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
Closed
Jia Aili
Harsh
November 10, 2021–May 29, 2022
Tank Shanghai
www.tankshanghai.com
This major exhibition, curated by Shen Qilan, presents four large-scale paintings by Jia Aili that reflect a correspondence between the vulnerability of individuals and shifts in society as a whole. Harsh (2021), the centerpiece created specifically for this exhibition, is Jia’s largest painting to date. The other three works featured—Hermit from the Planet (2015–16), Sonatine (2019–21), and Midday (2021)—likewise address social issues while revealing the artist’s continual innovations in the medium of painting.
Jia Aili, Midday, 2021 (detail) © Jia Aili Studio. Photo: Yang Chao Studio
Closed
On Sabbatical
July 25–September 6, 2020
West Bund Museum, Shanghai
www.wbmshanghai.com
The exhibition includes more than a dozen works that nine contemporary Chinese artists created over the course of their respective “sabbaticals” during the covid-19 outbreak in an attempt to convey their unique perspectives on the world, and to evoke a sense of affinity, solace, resonance, and reflection. Work by Jia Aili and Hao Liang is included.
Jia Aili, Mountain and Line, 2020 © Jia Aili
Closed
Jia Aili
March 17–June 18, 2017
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga, Spain
cacmalaga.eu
Juxtaposing contemporary elements with a traditional figurative style, Jia Aili’s postapocalyptic landscapes reflect the radical changes that have transpired in Chinese society in recent years. Awash in a palette of blacks, grays, and blues, the twenty-eight paintings in this exhibition depict lost individuals wandering in environments transformed by different technological advances, wars, and bombings, inviting viewers to reflect on the role played by human beings on this planet.
Installation view, Jia Aili, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga, Spain, March 17–June 18, 2017. Artwork © Jia Aili Studio
Closed
Jia Aili
May 5–July 31, 2015
Palazzo Grassi, Venice
www.palazzograssi.it
On view at the Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi, this exhibition features six works, created between 2011 and 2015, that bear witness to Jia Aili’s innovative approach to painting. Jia grew up during the period of Chinese economic modernization and his disquieting compositions express the solitude of human beings facing technological progress: the characters are innocent and fragile creatures, searching for a history through the detritus of a dystopian world.
Jia Aili, Untitled, 2011–12 © Jia Aili Studio
Closed
Seeker of Hope
Works by Jia Aili
July 6–September 23, 2012
Singapore Art Museum
www.singaporeartmuseum.sg
Seeker of Hope showcases Jia Aili’s dramatic reflections on the feverish pace at which the socioeconomic and cultural landscape of China has been transformed within the last few decades. The exhibition features approximately fifty artworks, including epic-scale oil paintings, video installations, and delicate works on paper.
Installation view, Seeker of Hope: Works by Jia Aili, Singapore Art Museum, July 6–September 23, 2012. Artwork © Jia Aili Studio