Biography
Shao Fan, art name: Yu Han. Shao Fan was born in 1964 to a renowned family of artists in Beijing, where he has lived ever since. He studied painting with his mother and father from a young age. Since the 1990s, his artistic practice has spanned a wide range of mediums, including three-dimensional works, oil on canvas, ink on rice paper, garden design, and architecture, exploring the transformation of materials across different times, spaces, and states of consciousness.
Shao Fan’s recent solo exhibitions include Shao Fan, Art Basel|Paris, Paris, 2024; In the Name of the Rabbit, Mirrored Gardens, Guangzhou, China, 2023; Shao Fan: Between the Truth and Illusion, Het Noordbrabants Museum, HT’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 2020; YOU, Ludwig Museum im Deutschherrenhaus, Koblenz, Germany, 2018; YOU, Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China, 2018.
Shao Fan has participated in numerous group exhibitions including: Does the Flower Hear the Bee?—The 15th Shanghai Biennial, Power Station of Art (PSA), Shanghai, China, 2025; Hill of the Madman, Power Station of Art (PSA), Shanghai, China, 2022; M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisation, M+ Museum, Hong Kong, China, 2021; Ad-Diriyah Biennale: Feeling the Stones, Ad-Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, 2021; Karneval der Tiere, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2018; Chinese Whispers, Kunstmuseum Bern and Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland, 2016; A New Dynasty – Created in China, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark, 2015; China 8, Museum Folkwang Essen, Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg, Kunstmuseum, Gelsenkirchen, Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl, Osthaus Museum Hagen, Kunsthalle, Recklinghausen, NRW Forum Düsseldorf, Germany, 2015; “Secret Signs” Chinese contemporary calligraphy exhibition, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany, 2014; De la Chine aux Arts Decortifs, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France, 2014; Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA, 2013; Confronting Anitya – Oriental Experience in Contemporary Art, Palazzo Michiel, Venice, Italy; Kunstraum Villa Friede, Bonn, Germany, 2013; Go Figure! Contemporary Chinese Portraiture, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia, 2012; The 4 th Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China, 2012; China Design Now, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, 2008; Chinese Gardens for Living – Illusion into Reality, Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden, Dresden, Germany, 2008.
He is the gold medal winner of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, London, UK (2008).
