This interview was conducted in Brooklyn, New York on 4 November 2009. For more information, please visit the Materials of the Future website.


Biography:

Gu Wenda (b. 1955, Shanghai) is an artist and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. He also maintains studio practices in Shanghai and Xi’an.

In 1976, Gu graduated from the Shanghai School of Arts and Crafts, and in 1981, from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou (now the China Academy of Art), where he studied traditional Chinese landscape painting under Lu Yanshao. Gu moved to the United States in 1987 and has been a frequent exhibitor in international exhibitions and biennials in China, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Italy, Poland and the United States, among others.

In his early career, Gu was known for his experimentations in installation and performance art and for his creative subversion of China’s millennia-old traditions of calligraphy and ink painting. Later on, Gu gained a reputation for his large-scale projects, and in particular, his use of human hair in installations such as his multi-year United Nations Project. Since 2005, Gu has focused on public, site-specific art and has recently displayed installations such as Heavenly Lanterns: Tea Palace in Brussels, and China Park in Shanghai.


簡歷︰

谷文達，1955年生於上海，現居紐約，並於上海及西安設工作室。

1976年畢業於上海工藝美術學院，其後入讀浙江美術學院(今中國美術學院)，隨陸儼少習中國畫，1981年畢業，獲碩士學位。1987年移居美國，積極參與國際性展覽及雙年展，作品於在中國、日本、澳洲大利亚、南非、意大利、波蘭及美國等地展出。

谷文達的早期創作中，以裝置及行為的新方法演繹中國傳統書法及水墨畫。移居美國後，他的大型作品引起國際關注，其中作品包括製作歷時多年的、以頭髮製作的《聯合國》。2005年以來，谷文達創作大型公共作品，如在布鲁塞尔的《天堂紅燈-茶宮》及在上海的《中園》。