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Ann Niu

b. 1968, Shanghai, China · Lives and works in Shanghai, China

Born in Shanghai, Ann Niu began studying calligraphy, seal carving and painting at an early age. She graduated from the Affiliated High School of Shanghai University’s College of Fine Arts in 1987 and from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 1995. After graduation, she worked briefly as an interior designer at Fujita Corporation in Japan before moving to the United States, where she decided to devote herself fully to painting. She returned to Shanghai in 2000 and has lived and worked there since.

Soon after her return, Niu held her first solo exhibition at Liu Haisu Art Museum and began extending her practice beyond the studio into architectural and public projects. She created a glass mural for Shanghai Xintiandi and later collaborated with the Shanghai International Tourism Festival and Adidas on large-scale works in central Shanghai. In 2008, HSBC Private Bank commissioned paintings for its Hong Kong headquarters and branches in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou for its permanent collection. In 2012, she was selected by Figaro as one of five Chinese women artists invited to create works in dialogue with five French brands, producing Cartier Woman in Red. In 2016, her Scholar Stone series was selected by the Blackstone Group Tsinghua University Education Foundation and displayed in the collection of Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University.

Niu’s practice spans painting, ink, mixed media, ceramics, objects and architectural glass works. Her early training in calligraphy remains central to her visual language: calligraphic gestures are transformed into freely moving lines, while words, numbers and personal symbols are woven into the image as traces of lived experience. Her years spent between China, Japan and the United States have shaped a practice in which Eastern and Western visual languages meet and continually transform one another.

Since returning to Shanghai, Niu has continually revisited two enduring subjects: love and hometown. Memories of China, everyday encounters and private signs recur throughout her work, sometimes directly and sometimes through abstracted lines and symbols. Rather than settling into a single style or medium, she continues to search for new ways of expressing these constant themes amid the changing conditions of contemporary life.

EDUCATION 1995 Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan 1987 Affiliated High School of Shanghai University’s College of Fine Arts, Shanghai, China SELECTED SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS 2025 (To) BE TOGETHER, HeLai Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland Amaranthine in Hand, with Fu Yiyao, Shanghai Jiaxi International Art Center, Shanghai, China 2024 1,2,3, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China 2022 Carpe Diem, ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China 2021 Re:Niu, Chens Art, Taipei, Taiwan, China 2020 New Myths – Ann Niu Solo Exhibition: MAZU, Chens Art, Taipei, Taiwan, China Guanyin, In River Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan, China 2019 Flash-Flash, Chens Art, Taipei, Taiwan, China Ink, Chens Art, Taipei, Taiwan, China Met in Shanghai, ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China 2018 Flash-Flash, ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China 2016 Microcosm, ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China Grace of the Buddha, Youzai Ji, Shanghai, China 2015 Synesthesia: Sound & Color, Movement & Textile, Glasshouse Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, USA 2014 Studio Life, ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China Met in Shanghai: Portrait Series, Zen Art Gallery, Shanghai, China 2013 Together, ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China 2012 M50 Ann Niu, Tokyo Pan Gallery, Shanghai, China 2011 Ann Niu’s Painting, The Opposite House, Beijing, China 2010 2000–2010 Ann Niu, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China Drama, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China Ann Niu Solo Exhibition, JOYCE Boutique, Hong Kong, China 2009 Independent Series, N.atelier, Shanghai, China 2007 Brimming, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China 2006 Whispers, Studio Rough Gallery, Shanghai, China 2005 Perchance, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China Invite Time, Bridge 8 Lifestyle Center, Shanghai, China 2004 Angel Is Terrified, Chouinard Gallery / Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China Closer, Natus Art Gallery, Shanghai, China 2003 Femme? Peintures de Ann Niu, La Maison de la Chine, Paris, France For A Good Reason, Hong Merchant Gallery, Sydney, Australia 45 × 40: Ink Work of Ann Niu, Hong Merchant Gallery, Shanghai, China 2002 Breathe, OmniQ Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 2001 Unfitted Place, Hong Merchant Gallery, Shanghai, China 2000 Entering, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2026 Parallel Currents, ArtCN Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 2025 Ink, Mind and Universe, Chens Art, Taipei, Taiwan, China 2024 DIVE IN, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China Haishang Qingfeng: Master Artists’ Folding Fan Exhibition, Hongyifeng Space, Shanghai, China 2023 NOW: 2023 Shanghai Young Artists Invitational Exhibition, Putuo District Cultural Center, Shanghai, China Today on the Sea: Contemporary Shanghai-School Artists Invitational Exhibition, Haipai Art Museum, Shanghai, China Seeing Words Like Faces, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China 2021 Taking the Contemporary as Method, Powerlong Museum, Shanghai, China BFC Art Season, BFC, Shanghai, China Seeing Words Like Faces: Contemporary Artists Invitational Exhibition, Liu Haisu Art Museum Branch, Shanghai, China The Sixth Sense, ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China 2020 New Myths, Chens Art, Taipei, Taiwan, China 2019 Image of South of China, Suzhou Art Museum, Suzhou, China Imago of South of China: Art Exhibition Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of New China, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China Deep | Unknown: From Dunhuang to the Himalayas, W.Ming Gallery, New York, USA 2018 Poetic South of China: The 17th Sea Horizon Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, China Art Museum, Shanghai, China Alien 2018: Shanghai Abstract Art Exhibition, Ningbo Art Museum, Ningbo, China The Preservation of Fire: On Lines and Materials, Crossing Art, New York, USA 2017 Celestial Thread of the Dragon, Gawa Gallery, Shanghai, China 2014 Winter Group Exhibition, IBU Gallery, Paris, France 2010 Head On, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China 2009 30 Degree, Island6 Art Center / Studio Rouge Gallery, Shanghai, China Reach the Heart: Art in Hospital, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China 50–80, J Gallery, Shanghai, China 2008 TRIBES – GROUP 1, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China 2007 40-, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China 2006 FACE VALUE, World Art Centre, Delft, the Netherlands 2005 Shanghai Shanghai, Studio Rouge Gallery, Shanghai, China Art Saturdays, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong, China 2002 Neo Abstraction, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China 2001 Shanghai Grand Exhibition of Fine Art, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China China Art Now!, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore SELECTED ART FAIRS 2026 ART PLUS Shanghai International Art Fair, with Kakadu Art Space, Shanghai, China 2023 West Bund Art & Design, West Bund Art Center, Shanghai, China 2022 West Bund Art & Design, with ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China 2021 ART TAIPEI, with Chens Art, Taipei, Taiwan, China 2020 ART TAIPEI, with Chens Art, Taipei, Taiwan, China ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, with ArtCN Gallery, Shanghai, China 2019 Art Shopping Paris, with Chens Art, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France Art Market San Francisco, with Crossing Art, San Francisco, USA 2015 Asia Contemporary Art Show, Conrad Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China 2014 Art Beijing Contemporary Art Fair, with Zendai Art, Beijing, China Design Shanghai, with Kaolin Gallery, Shanghai, China 2012 SH Contemporary, solo presentation of Ann Niu’s recent work, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China 2011 Fine Art Asia, with Waterhouse & Dodd, Hong Kong, China 2007 Art Lan Asia, Zaim Yokohama Art Foundation, Yokohama, Japan PUBLIC PROJECTS & COMMISSIONS 2016 TA-TA-TOO, installation created with Shanghai Village and designer Stefano Giovannoni, Shanghai, China 2015 UNDERSTAND A – Ann Niu & Scholar Stone, mini-documentary project, China 24 Solar Terms, ceramic plate series, Jingdezhen, China 2010 Glass mural, JOYCE Boutique, Hong Kong, China 2009 Commissioned painting series, HSBC Private Bank Hong Kong Headquarters, Hong Kong, China Ann Niu’s Art Work, commemorative stamp issue, China Post, China 2008 Seer 8610, Seer 8621 and Map series, HSBC Private Bank branches in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, China 2007 Beats Together, large-scale glass mural, Adidas, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China Starting Step, HSBC Private Bank Hong Kong Headquarters, Hong Kong, China 2005 Where Are You Tonight, La Garçon Chinois, Shanghai, China 2004 Under the Fine Sky, Sharp China, Wuxi, China 2002 Embraced, Shanghai International Tourism Festival, People’s Park, Shanghai, China 2001 Kissing While Dancing, Le Club, Shanghai Xintiandi, Shanghai, China SELECTED INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTIONS Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China MAJOR COLLECTORS & CLIENTS HSBC Private Bank Blackstone Group Tsinghua University Education Foundation Swire Hotels China Post Australian Wild Abalone Association (AWA) Shanghai International Tourism Festival 2002 Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Adidas Sharp China ANA Hotel & Resort, Japan Novel City, Shanghai, China Many worldwide private collections SELECTED PRIVATE COLLECTIONS Jean-Philippe Peugeot, President of Cartier Asia-Pacific; the Sheng Xuanhuai family; the Tang Heqian family; the Dong Jianhua family; the Xia Yu Mingmei family; and private collections in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, the United States, and other regions.