Cheng Ran

Biography

Cheng Ran was born in 1981, in Inner Mongolia, China. In 2004, he graduated from China Academy of Art. Currently he lives and works in Hangzhou, China.

Cheng mainly focuses on new media and his artworks are mostly videos and films. He did not make polished videos at the beginning but only tried to convey his personal and private feelings. Later this means of expression was improved to a professional stage and Cheng Ran started to discuss bigger issues through videos. Often the themes of his videos are about the unsolvable problems in life which keep puzzling the young people while no exact answers can be found. Such issues include people's identities and life versus death etc.

Cheng's works are created by applying basic cinematic techniques like simple cutting, rearranging, montage, full length shot and so on. Usually, his videos do not have complete and coherent storylines, and sentiment is the main part to show.

In 2012, Cheng Ran participated in artist Michael Lin's exhibition "Model Home" at Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai. Working with Michael, Cheng recorded the whole process of the preparation and the construction work of the exhibition and then presented the videos in the final show.

Cheng Ran won the "Best Video Artist" in Dead Rabbit Awards(2011) held by online art magazine Randian. The winning piece "Chewing Gum Papers” is a simultaneously hypnotic and sinister combined with Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech as the background sound; and it is also a piece of commissioned work for LEO XU PROJECTS's inaugural show "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)".

Cheng Ran is represented by LEO XU Projects.

Works

2011

HOT BLOOD, WARM BLOOD, COLD BLOOD

The Eclipse

Chewing Gum Paper

WHAT WHY HOW

2010

Summanus butterfly

Anonymous - Imagining and Imitation of Man Ray’s Tears (1930)

Ghost of Tundra

Music is On, Band is Gone

2009

Punk visits

The Sorrows of Young Werther

The light will be sufficient to light up a night

Rock dove

2008

This is the End

The Genghis Khan Conquest

2007

Fist Coast

Family Trilogy

Forplay

Recycling Grassland

Sublimation Memorandum

2005-2006

FamilyCapytalism

Light Souree

3000 words

Solo Exhibition

2011

"Hot Blood, Warm Blood, Cold Blood", Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne, Beijing

"Circadian Rhythm", Qingying Gallery, Hangzhou

2009

"Immersion and Distance", Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing

Group Exhibitions

2011

"Two people, Solar eclipse and butterfly" video projects, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, USA

Video Art Terminal _ Un Viatico per i Viaggiatori, Venice, Italy

Reunion Island Biennale of Today’s Art 2011, Reunion Island, France

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), LEO XU PROJECTS, Shanghai, China

"Be With Me", House of Electronic Arts Basel, LISTE, Basel, Switzerland

"Catch the Moon in the Water: Emerging Chinese Artists", James Cohan Gallery, New York,USA

INTERMISSION, James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai

2010

The Passage Project #1? Alex: A Tribute to Alexander McQueen, James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai

3rd i program: compilation of Chinese video art, V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam

2009-2003

CREAM -International festival for Arts and Media, Yokohama

There Is No I in Team - Contemporary Chinese Artists' Work PROGRAM, Berlin

Seoul International Experimental Film Festival, Seoul

There Is No I in Team - Contemporary Chinese Artists' Work, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK)

On view: Selections From China, Paul Morris Gallery, New York

Elektrische Schatten China, VideoFestival, Salzburg Museumof Modern Art, Austria

"The Second "Chinese new Media art Festival, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou

"BAI TA LING" Contemporary Art Exhibition, Hangzhou