Kun Fang is an artist based in Antwerp, Belgium. She works in a range of areas including painting, illustration, contemporary art, video and design. She has received many awards in international art competitions and her works have been shown in over 30 exhibitions worldwide, in cities such as London, Moscow, Athens, Shanghai, Tokyo, Chengdu and Seoul.
Kun's childhood memories, her poetic statement, her basement performance and street performance express the suppressed frustration of the human. Her lyrical abstract ‘rags’ tell a story of blood and sweat… all leaves a lot of question marks. Who is Kun Fang? We have been knowing her for years before the millennium, we have been working with her, we had lunches and dinners together, we laughed and cried with her, and we think we know her, but is what we think right? Today and always there shall be the mystery of the artist’s life and work.
- Liliane Ruttens, exhibition curator
Kun Fang's work isn't limited to one style but can be organised in series along intersecting themes and recurring symbols. The viewer is struck by the intense color and energy of each work.
Kun Fang's unique color use is inspired by european modernism and eastern traditions of refinement.
The painter and her characters are searching a positive way to identify, and this strikes as real and fragile human. The search never lands in irony but often in (double) meaning.
- Toon Cappuyns, art historian
Kun Fang’s figurative painting intertwines eastern and western techniques and images. The optimism stands out, she rather emphasizes the human exchanges between East and West. Her reflection on the world eventually transforms into work in which temperament and development play a major role.
- Marc Reuters in periodical <H>ART
Kun Fang is an inspiring artist who has passion for art, creativity, and free spirit. In the exhibition “The Digital Body: 3rd International Exhibition on New Media Art” at CICA Museum in 2017 Fang’s performance “Milk and Honey” was featured. The work was a self-video documentation of her simple act of pouring milk over her head while wearing a white top and paties. The intimacy created by the camera angle and content induces tension, slight discomfort, and intrigue. Through the work, Fang wittily yet boldly embodied the sexuality of the digital age. Fang is an artist who expands the realm of Art in the digital age. Fang expresses her emotions and ideas through various media while utilizing her own body to represent and reflect her reality. I strongly recommend her for any endeavor she chooses to pursue.
- Leejin Kim, Art Director CICA Museum South Korea
Cultural background and experiences in western society play a fundamental role in the themes used in Kun Fang’s work. The colors and symbols used refer to eastern mythical and mystical influences. Lyrical and phantasmagorical elements make her paintings very readable and poetic. She evolved to a remarked willfulness and passion in her work.
- Raf De Smedt, former head of department in Royal Academy for Fine Arts Antwerp
Contact
Past events
2022 Turner contemporary, Margate UK 2021 Ecofeminism, Art Pavilion Mile End, London Kensington and Chelsea Art Week Kensal Canalside artwork, London Bristol photographic community selection 2021, Bristol Photo Museum Spur community selection, Bristol Art, Bristol UK The playful turn, Espacio gallery, Shoreditch London Publication in Whimsical poet, New York |
2020 Kensington Chelsea Art Week Small Pleasures project, Sheffield Arts Centre, UK (featured on BBC Sheffield) Coantivirus international online art exhibition, NY20+ Boomer gallery, London EcoFeminism, Art Pavilion Mile End, London The spring exhibition, Cultural Center of Manchester 2019 Power, CICA Museum, Seoul South Korea Art vending machine, the People's Republic of Stokes Croft, Venice Biennale, Italy Yoko Ono's selection My eyes and manifestation, The Public Arthouse, Manchester UK 2018 Exposition 'Artist and Location' and publication 'Digital Body: New Media Art 2018', CICA Museum, Seoul South Korea Shanghai design Festival, China Art and action, Den Haag Netherlands (2nd prize) 2017 American art fair, Chicago US 'The Digital Body: 3rd International Exhibition on New Media Art' and 'Subculture', CICA Museum, Seoul South Korea |
2016 Amsterdam Art Weekend, Netherlands (photos by Fabien Landwei) Second Prize 'Mouth', Moscow Group exhibition in Serge Scohy Galery, Antwerp Belgium |
2015 'All the art in this space is not made by Kun Fang', Centre Culturel Aix-en-Provence, France Museum night fever, Operahuis De Munt, Brussels Belgium 'Active Painting', The Butt Film Fest Breda, Netherlands Opening show of B&O, Antwerp Belgium Group show, Fortis bank, Kortrijk Belgium |
2014 Group exhibition, Gallery Ludwig Trossaert, Antwerp Belgium Plantin Moretus Museum, Belgium (exposition of Kun Fang's 'Beauty and Beast' on a wall designed by Stefan Beel) Group show at the USSL fondation, Beijing China |
2013 16th Biennale Poeke, Belgium Group show at Hanna Reichman Gallery, Wien Austria (curated by Herbert Drethvoll) Residency and group show "Things that money can't buy / Greeting to John Lennon", Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA), Manchester UK Residency and group show "Rebel with a cause", Underground Arts Centre, Hamburg Germany Group show "Mayday", Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA), Manchester UK Group show "Women in the 21st century", Asia Arts Centre, Berlin Germany Group show "Beholding Beauty", Taipei Arts Centre, Taipei Taiwan |
2012 Group exhibition, Szymon gallery, Zoersel Belgium Group exhibition "New Realism", Red Saloon Beijing Design Week Group show "Chinese artist and oversea", art foundation ShangHai, Beijing China Group show "Child of Romantic", Gallery Serge Scohy, Antwerp Belgium |
2011 15th Biennale Poeke, Aalter Belgium Group show for art prize "Luxembourg", Paris France |
2010 Solo exhibition, Ludwig Trossaert Gallery, Antwerp Belgium (presentation of the "Red, Black & White" catalogue) Residency and group show, Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing China Group show, Museum of modern art, Shanghai China |
2000 - 2009 Group show "Beijing Story", Campo&Campo Gallery, Antwerp Belgium Projection "Beijing Story", International Film Fest, Vienna Austria Projection "Beijing Story", Arenbergschouwburg, Antwerp Belgium Group show "Panda Restaurant", Chinese embassy, Berlin Germany Group show, Marguetta Gallery, Rome Italy Group show, Mo gallery, Beijing China Group show, Biennale Shanghai, Shanghai China Group show, New Talents Awards (2nd Prize) Projection, Fenix TV art documentary, Hong Kong China Graduation show, Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp Belgium |
Press |
2016 conversation with people interview of Tom and Sven (discussion island) 2015 interview by Culturele Vereniging Werklicht Rotterdam; numerous articles about kun and co-artists participating the opening in the museum night in brussel 2014 numerous interview with Mafu and ZhangYu and by Guo ming lu 2013 interview with LinBai (universe=love) 2012 interview with Effe, give it away or rise it again, materials today 2011 interview by chinees art news ( forever poetry, kunfang,s artwork) interview with lui zheng 2010 interview with Hart art magazine 2009 interview with founder off chinees independent show Ma lu ming 2008 interview with chinees youth news ( does painting have its own language) 2007 interview with numerous articles about kun and iron fabric ( art movement ) 2006 interview with several chinees germane and belgium newspaper about kun and her masters Fred Bervoets and Mafu. 2004 international promotion chinees fennix tv ( art of kun fang in antwerpen) 2003 article in the several belgium financial economische tijd, de morgen en standaard 2002 article in the several belgium and chinees art magazine 2001 interview with land and art today (body and mind) 2000 discussion with wang jia xin ( chinees poet ) chinees morning newspaper 1999 art is in our mind dialoge with lin lang (chinees artist of chinees intellectual art) 1998 speak corner in beijing ( art in its best way) 1997 newspaper in beijing university ( first serie of kun ) 1996 discussion panel with ARTIST IN BEIJING ( DING FANG, AIWEIWEI, GEORG BASELEITZ ) |
Commissions |
2000 The Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai, Kun gets the first command in her life to make an abstract work of the color blue. 2004 collection by Frank Uytterhaegen MCAF in Gent (big danser), Belgium 2005 work for command for Lawyer Bond of Antwerpen, Belgium 2006 work for commission Roma Art lodge, italy 2007 work for family Fantin, Belgium 2008 collection by Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), China 2009 commission love for the children by American Art Center in New York, China 2010 commission (the time) in creative center Shanghai, China 2011 commission landart in shangdong china 2012 commission art and reality in Game Center Tian Jing, China 2014 commission beauty in the eye of the beholder Roma, Italy 2015 commission active art by museum community of Brussel, Belgium art commision |