Hu Xiangcheng 胡项城

Hu Xiangcheng (1950) was born, lives and works in Shanghai. He graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy in 1977 and became the youngest professor in the art department. In 1978, he moved to Tibet where he taught in the Fine Arts Department of Tibet University.

In 1986, Hu Xiangcheng moved to Japan where he continued his artistic development and exploration as he researched contemporary, folk and visual arts. In the early 1990s, he lived in Africa and began a new artistic discovery creating many works inspired by the African landscape and traditions.

Inspired by his studies and life experiences in Japan and Africa, Hu Xiangcheng returned to China in 2002 to begin his work to improve the lives of rural residents. Through hands-on renovation of ancient Chinese villages, Hu Xiangcheng aspires to simultaneously revive ancient Chinese culture and traditional practices. This led to his participation in the the Megacities exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2016 and lectures at Harvard University. Hu Xiangcheng continues to pursue his passion renovating old structures and villages while also continuing to paint, envision and execute large installations and direct performance arts. Recently, he has begun to incorporate more natural and recycled materials into his works.

In 1996, Hu Xiangcheng was one of the founders of the now world-renowned Shanghai Biennale. His artworks have been featured in dozens of solo and group exhibitions in China, Japan, France and the US and have been collected by many museums and institutions in China, Japan, France, Australia and the United States.