Introduction

Li Shan is a Chinese contemporary artist and a pioneer of Bio-Art (shengwu yishu). He was born in Lanxi, Heilongjiang Province in 1942, studied at the Shanghai Theater Academy 1964-68 and later taught there until his retirement in 2002. In the 1960s he started to engage in contemporary art. He lives and works in Shanghai and New York now.

Li Shan was also one of the main participants in the Chinese '85s New Wave Art Movement. In 1993, Li began investigations on life science through his art. Based on molecular biology, he completed the first-ever genetic Bio-Art project Reading in 1998 and published the article The Story of Fish and Butterfly in 2000.

Solo exhibitions: Decoding, ShanghART, Shanghai (2019); PSA Collection Series, Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2017); Reading Li Shan, MOCA, Taipei (2012); The Pumpkin Project, ShanghART, Shanghai (2007); Reading of Li Shan, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai (1990).

Group exhibitions: The Animal Farm Simulator, Hyundai Motorstudio Bejing (2023); Start, Inaugural Exhibition, Start Museum, Shanghai（2022）; M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisation, M+ Museum, Hong Kong (2021); Future of the Arts, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2019); Supernatural, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney (2018); Theater of the World, Guggenheim Museum, New York (2017); Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2010); Inside Out, Asia Society; PS1, New York (1998); Biennial of Sao Paulo (1994); Venice Biennale (1993), China /Avant-Garde Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (1989).