Duan Jianyu was born in Zhengzhou, Henan province, in 1970, and graduated from the oil painting department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1995. One of the most prominent painters working in Chinese contemporary art today, she uses light brushwork, a vivid imagination, and a touch of the absurd to deconstruct the complexities—and heaviness—of real life. Throughout almost thirty years of artistic practice, Duan has carefully considered the relationship between painting and reality. Separating painting from its representational function, she calibrates its narrative depth, loosens existing aesthetic paradigms, and incorporates references to the medium’s history, transforming it into an arena that can be more expansive and captivating than life itself.  

This exhibition marks Duan’s first institutional solo presentation in Beijing and draws works from across the longest time span of any of her shows to date, offering a systematic overview of her most important series of the past decade. These include representative works from the series “Sharp, Sharp, Smart” (2014-2016), “Spring River in the Flower Moon Night” (2017-2018), “Horse” (2018-2019), “Michelin Seven Stars” (2020), and “Ethnological Patterns” (2022-), alongside the recent breakthroughs “Yúqiáo (The Fisherman and The Woodcutter)” (2023-2024) and “Dumplings Were Discovered in the Ruins” (2025). The exhibition also features newly completed paintings such as Daisies, the Most Innocent Flowers in the World (2026). 

Throughout her career, Duan has maintained a keen eye for all forms of cultural life and the diversity of human experience. In her paintings, she pairs imagery from vernacular culture with references to oil painting traditions in both China and the West, establishing a fluid, multi-directional dialogue between different registers of visual experience. Duan pays close attention to the status of women, the aesthetic sensibilities produced by consumer culture, and the desires and difficulties of contemporary life. In her work, she mixes these themes with ancient myths and urban legends, constructing a perceptual space filled with narrative tension. Maintaining a lighthearted yet incisive style, Duan brings together seemingly disparate experiences and imaginings on her canvases, crafting an all-encompassing, enticing world.

The exhibition title captures the inner commonalities that link the artist’s favorite subjects. “Daisies” and “a Light Breeze” are unassuming and humble, yet brim with vitality. “No Relatives Writing Poems,” meanwhile, references a line by Polish poet Wisława Szymborska. Resembling an unremarkable fact about someone’s family, it nevertheless ties together the poetic and the everyday. Echoing the atmosphere of Szymborska’s poetry, Duan absorbs the world’s scintillating minutiae and fresh surprises through an approach that is at once modest, guileless, and nimble, revealing to us the rich, sometimes unexpected possibilities offered by bringing painting into conversation with contemporary life.

“Duan Jianyu: Daisies, a Light Breeze, No Relatives Writing Poems” is curated by UCCA Chief Curator Chelsea Qianxi Liu. UCCA thanks SHANG XIA for their special support. Exclusive wall solutions support is provided by Dulux. UCCA also thanks the members of UCCA Foundation Council, International Circle, and Young Associates, as well as Lead Partners Aranya and The Donum Estate, Lead Art Book Partner DIOR, Presenting Partner Bloomberg, and Supporting Partners AIA, Barco, Dulux, Genelec, SKP Beijing, Stey, and Wanbo Media Group.

UCCA will present a series of public programs in conjunction with the exhibition, inviting audiences to explore the narrative structures, visual experience, and cultural contexts within Duan Jianyu’s practice from multiple perspectives. On the opening day, exhibition curator Chelsea Qianxi Liu will lead a guided tour, followed by a Conversation with the artist, curator, and Cai Tao, Professor at the School of Art and Humanities, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Additional programs include a Conversation that considers Duan’s work through the lens of contemporary painting and related perspectives, further examining how her paintings respond to contemporary life and articulate image-based experience and cultural memory. Curator Yang Zi will also, for the first time, present in Chinese the short story The Thoughtful Fisherman-Woodcutter, written for Duan Jianyu’s “Yúqiáo” series, followed by for  a dialogue with writer Zhang Yuling. For full program details and updates, please refer to UCCA’s latest official announcements, and follow UCCA’s website, WeChat, and other social media platforms. 

Duan Jianyu (b. 1970, Zhengzhou, Henan) graduated from the oil painting department at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art in 1995. She has taught at the South China Normal University of the Arts in Guangzhou. Selected recent solo exhibitions include: “Duan Jianyu: Yúqiáo” (YDP, London, 2025); “Duan Jianyu: The Foam of Days” (Mirrored Gardens, Guangzhou, 2022); “Automatic Writing - Automatic Understanding” (Pond Society, Shanghai, 2020); “Duan Jianyu Solo Exhibition” (2019 Art Basel, Basel); “Sharp, Sharp, Smart” (Mirrored Gardens, Guangzhou, 2016); “A Potent Force: Duan Jianyu and Hu Xiaoyuan” (Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, 2013). She has participated in international exhibitions and biennials, including: “One Hand Clapping” (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2018); “APT8 Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art” (Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2015); “15 Years Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA)” (Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2014); “The Third Guangzhou Triennial: Farewell to Post-Colonialism” (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, 2008); “China Welcomes You...Desires, Struggles, New Identities” (Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, 2007); “The Second Guangzhou Triennial: Beyond” (Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, 2005); “Venice Biennial 50th International Art Exhibition: Z.O.U. - Zone of Urgency” (La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2003); “4th Gwangju Biennial: P_A_U_S_E” (Gwangju, 2002). Duan was the recipient of the Best Artist Award at the 2010 Chinese Contemporary Art Awards (CCAA).