Jes Fan

1/1
next

Left: Wounding, 2022. Middle: Fragrant Harbor, 2022. Right: Apparatus, 2022.

Installation view, The 59th La Biennale di Venezia 2022: ‘The Milk of Dreams’

Left: Wounding, 2022. Middle: Fragrant Harbor, 2022. Right: Apparatus, 2022.

Installation view, The 59th La Biennale di Venezia 2022: ‘The Milk of Dreams’

Diagram IX, 2021

Photo: Pierre Le Hors

Installation view from ‘The Stomach and the Port,’ Liverpool Biennial, 2021

Image courtesy of the artist and Liverpool Biennial 2021
Photo: Stuart Whipps

Network (For Dispersal), 2021 (detail)

Image courtesy of the artist and Liverpool Biennial 2021
Photo: Stuart Whipps

Xenophoria, 2020 (still)

 

Form Begets Function, 2020

Installation view from 22nd Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN

Image courtesy of the artist and 22nd Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Hand Feeling, 2019 (still)

Installation view from ‘An Opera for Animals,’ 2019

Image courtesy of the artist and Rockbound Art Museum, Shanghai

Installation view from ‘Forget Sorrow Grass: An Archaeology of Feminine Time’

Image courtesy of the artist and Times Museum, Guangzhou

 

Systems III, 2018

 

Jes Fan (b. Scarborough, Canada) lives and works in Hong Kong and Brooklyn, USA. Fan originally trained in glass making, but has expanded his practice to encompass diverse mediums and approaches. From videos to sculptures, his trans-disciplinary practice speculates on the intersection of biology and identity in relation to the materiality of the gendered and racialised body. Fan is the recipient of various fellowships and residencies, including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2022), Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant (2017), as well as the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (2019-2020). Recent exhibitions include Kunsthall Trondheim (2021); X Museum (2020); Rockbund Art Museum, China (2019); Hayward Gallery, UK (2019); Empty Gallery, Hong Kong (2018); and Museum of Arts and Design, USA (2017). Fan has also participated in numerous artist residencies with institutions including the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Recess Art, Smack Mellon and Pioneer Works. He also participated in the Venice Biennale (2022), New Museum Triennial (2021), Liverpool Biennale (2021), Sydney Biennale (2020), Socrates Annual (2019). In 2023, he will present a second solo show with Empty Gallery, titled Sites of Wounding: Part 1.

Education

2014
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) BFA in Glass

Awards

2022
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
2021
Gold Art Prize
2020
NYFA/NYSCA Artist Fellowship (Sculpture/Craft)
BMW Art Journey Award, Finalist
2019
Devra Freelander Fellowship, Socrates Sculpture Park
Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, Jerome Foundation
2017
Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant Recipient
Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship, Museum of Arts and Design
Emergency Grant, Foundation for Contemporary Arts
2016
Creative Glass Center of America Fellowship, Wheaton Arts
2014
Award of Excellence, RISD Glass Department
2013
John A. Chironna Fellowship, RISD

Selected Collections

Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France
Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
Sunpride Foundation, Hong Kong
X Museum, Beijing

Solo Exhibitions

Upcoming
Sites of Wounding: Part 1, Empty Gallery, HK
2018
Mother is a Woman, Empty Gallery, HK
2017
Disposed to Add, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
No Clearance in Niche, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
2016
Ot(her), Sarah Doyle Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI

Biennials and Triennials

2022
The 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia curated by Cecilia Alemani, Venice
2021
Soft Water Hard Stone, The Fifth New Museum Triennial, New Museum, New York
The Stomach and the Port, 11th Liverpool Biennale, United Kingdom
2020
NIRIN, 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Australia
Where do we begin?, X Museum Triennial

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022
Transactions with Eternity, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin
The odds are good, the goods are odd, Lisson Gallery, NYC
Retrograde, Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong
Breaking Water, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
A Través, James Cohan Gallery, NYC
2021 -2022
Sex Ecologies, Kunsthall Trondheim, Norway
2021
CAMP FIRES THE BODY AS A QUEER STAGE, Last Tango, Zurich
2020-2021
The Body Electric, Museum of Art and Design, Miami
2019
✧Slow Hand Movements ✧* Gentle Whispers * Water * Salt * Tingles *, Boers-li Gallery, NYC
Forget Sorrow Grass: An Archaeology of Feminine Time, Times Museum, Guangzhou
The Socrates Annual 2019, Socrates Sculpture Park, NYC
CAMP FIRES THE BODY AS A QUEER STAGE, UV Estudios, Argentina
Kiss My Genders, Hayward Gallery, London
An Opera for Animals, Rockbound Art Museum, Shanghai
An Opera for Animals, Para Site, Hong Kong
In my room, Antenna Space, Shanghai
no body to talk to, Invisible Exports, NYC
SportCult, Team Gallery, NYC
2018
Paradox: Haptic Body in the Age of AI, Carnegie Mellon University
Raw Design, San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, USA,
2017
Uproot, Smack Mellon, New York, NY
Glass Ceiling, UrbanGlass, New York, NY
Timeshare, Zaha Hadid Building, NY
Set on Freedom, Queens Museum, NY
In Search of Miss Ruthless, Para Site, Hong Kong
From Dada to Tada, Fisher and Parrish, Brooklyn, NY
Threshold, Underdonk Gallery, New York, NY
Stranger Things, Outpost Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2016
Whereabouts, Glazenhuis Museum, Belgium
2014
Material Location, UrbanGlass, New York, NY

Residency

2019-2020
Smack Mellon, NYC, USA
2019
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, NE, USA
Recess Art, NYC USA,
2018
Alfred University, NY, USA
2017
Tyler School of Art, PA, USA
Spring Workshop, Hong Kong
Pioneer Works, NYC, USA

Bibliography

2021
“Best! Letters from Asian Americans in the arts”, Edited by Christopher K. Ho and Daisy Nam, Paper Monument
“Water-Tea-Pee-Mold-Web”, Liverpool Biennial Reader
2017
“The Artist’s Artists: Lee Relvas”, Artforum, December Issue, print

Teaching/ Lectures

2021
Visiting Artist, Columbia University
Visiting Artist, UCLA
2020
Visiting Artist, University of Wisconsin Madison
Visiting Artist, The New School
Visiting Artist, Yale University, Art History Department
Visiting Artist, Mead Museum at Amherst College
Visiting Artist, RISD Glass
Visiting Artist, ACE Open
Visiting Artist, Parsons School of Design
2019
Visiting Artist, ICA Virginia
2018
Visiting Artist, Literature Department, University of California San Diego
2017
“Feminine Essence: Estrogenic Facial”, Spring Workshop, Hong Kong
“Feminine Presence: Biology as Craft”, Museum of Arts and Design, NYC
Visiting Critic, Sculpture Department, RISD, RI
2016
Visiting Critic, Sculpture Department, Pratt Institute, NYC
Visiting Artist, Academy of Visual Arts, Baptist University, Hong Kong
2015
Visiting Critic, Glass Department, RISD, RI
JF_ArchivesPress_2022Aug
DOWNLOAD pdf (18.4 MB)