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Zhuo QI

Born in 1985 in Fuxin, China, Zhuo Qi has developed a sculptural practice at the intersection of Chinese and Western cultures. Ceramics, glass, metal, and paper serve as the mediums for his experiments, in which the artist subverts conventional uses, transforms forms, and willingly plays with misunderstandings. To describe this approach, he coined the term “poetif, ” a contraction of “poetry” and “action”: “I am neither positive nor negative. I am poetif.”

At the heart of his work lies the transformation of the object. Zhuo Qi distorts, inverts, petrifies, or combines seemingly incompatible materials, giving rise to sculptures that are both familiar and strange. Porcelain plays a central role in this exploration. Inspired by his stays in Jingdezhen, a historic center of porcelain production, he reinterprets the traditions of Chinese ceramics to subvert their conventions with humor, irreverence, and great technical mastery.

In the series Bubble-Gameseries, developed following a residency at the Martell Foundation, Zhuo Qi combines ancient Chinese sculptures—sometimes fragmentary—with blown-glass forms. The glass fills a void, extends a missing limb, or provides a new foundation for the sculpture. From this encounter between ancient stone and translucent material emerge hybrid objects that evoke restoration as much as metamorphosis and renewal. Navigating the tension between fragility and permanence, past and present, Zhuo Qi transforms dissonance into a language and strangeness into a fresh way of viewing objects and their history.

Biography

Zhuo Qi was born in 1985 in Fuxin, Liaoning, China. He has lived and worked between Paris and Limoges since 2008.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

  • 2008-11 / DNSEP at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts du Mans
  • 2011-13 / DNAP at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts du Mans
  • 2013-14 / Post-graduate DAS at the Geneva University of Art and Design
  • 2014-15 / Post-graduate of the KAOLIN Program at ENSA Limoges.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2026 / There Is a Crack in Everything, That’s How the Light Gets In, HDM Gallery, Beijing, China
  • 2023 / Lost in the Bubble, Perrotin Gallery, Shanghai, China
  • 2023 / Qi Zhuo: Yes & No, Aranya – Youyi Bay, Qinghuangdao, China
  • 2022 / History Never Really Says Goodbye, Galerie Paris-B, Paris, France
  • 2021 / Strangely beautiful, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris, France
  • 2019 / Y’a des jours comme ça, Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris
  • 2018 / Méditation, Centre céramique contemporaine, La Borne, France

GROUP EXHIBITIONS           

  • 2026 / Glasstress, Fondazione Berengo, Palazzo Ca’tron, Venice, Italy
  • 2026 / The Earth's Energies, Keramis, La Louvière, Belgium
  • 2025 / The Earth's Energies, Adrien Dubouch National Museum, Limoges, France.
  • 2025 / We, the World,Being Art Museum, Shanghai, China.
  • 2025 / Maijishan Grottoes, Powerlong Museum, Shanghai, China
  • 2024 /Variations: Time and Space, Shanxi Museum Exhibition Center, Taiyuan, China
  • 2023 / Power of Color, Jinhua Cultural Center, Jinhua, China    
  • 2023 / Matignon – October + group exhibition, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
  • 2023 / Xun Yi: Datong Contemporary Art, Datong, China
  • 2021 /“Towards a New Land: Tales of the Ancient Pavilion,”the contemporary art exhibition ofthe first Suzhou Garden Art Festival, Suzhou, China
  • 2021 / When Matter Becomes Art, Maison Guerlain, Paris, France
  • 2020 / As time goes by…, Suzhou, China
  • 2019 / Toolbox, Musée le Carroi, Chinon, France
  • 2019 / Private Choice, Paris, France
  • 2016 / Salon de Montrouge 16, Montrouge, France Contemporary Ceramics, Art Beijing, Beijing, China
  • 2016 / KAO EXPORT LTD, Musée national Adrien Dubouché, Limoges, France
  • 2015 / Private Choice, Paris, France
  • 2015 / Confronting Anitya, Musée de Salagon, Mane, France
  • 2015 / Noticing porcelain, Wroclaw, Poland
  • 2014 / Transit, Bazaar Compatible Program, Shanghai, China 1320°, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Jingdezhen, China
  • 2013 / INSIDE OUT, Municipality of Bardonnex and Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2013 / Grande Image Lab, Nuit Blanche, Paris, France Under Conditions, Ile Moulins’ art art center, Pays de la Loire, France
  • 2013 / Ecce homo Ludens, Swiss season “play in contemporary art”, Swiss Games Museum, La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland

RESIDENCIES

  • 2025 /FondazioneBerengo, Venice, Italy
  • 2024 /AtelierB, Maison Bernardaud, Limoges, France
  • 2022 / Taoxichuan Art Center, Jingdezhen, China
  • 2021 /IDE(International Design Expeditions) to Poland, Warsaw, Poland
  • 2021 / MeissenPorcelainAcademy, ELZER Foundation, Stuttgart, Meissen, Germany
  • 2020 / Martell Foundation, Cognac
  • 2018 / Contemporary Ceramics Center, La Borne, France
  • 2017 / Cité internationale des Arts, Paris, France
  • 2017 / Residencies La Borne, Contemporary Ceramics Center La Borne, La Borne, France
  • 2015 / OÙ exhibition space for contemporary art, Marseille, France
  • 2014 / JCI (Jingdezhen ceramic institute) of Jingdezhen, China
  • 2013 / Ile Moulins’art art center, Pays de la Loire, France
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