MO Yi
莫毅
Born in Tibet in 1958, Mo Yi is a professional football player turned artist. Widely recognised as one of the most important artists of Chinese Contemporary Photography that emerged from 1980s, Mo captures the alienation and oppression of urban life in China, often with the artist intervening and appearing in the image. Mo has exhibited in many institutions and art festivals, including Museum für Fotografie (Berlin, Germany, 2017), Three Shadow Photography Art Centre (Beijing, China, 2010), and the seminal travelling exhibition “Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China” (International Centre of Photography, New York, USA, 2004-2006). Mo’s work is included in the collections of the Chinese Image and Video Archive (Canada), Guangdong Museum of Art (China), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (U.S.A), and the Walther Collection (USA).
Chronology
1998 Interviewed by NHK (Japan): The New Wave of Chinese Culture
1999 Life Experience: 41 Days
Selected Solo Exhibitions
“Study ― RED 1982-2017”, Zen Foto Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016
Eighties Part II “MOYI:1987-1989”, Zen Foto Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2015
“Looking at Paris’s Eyes” (Action art), Cafe under terror attack on Nov 13, Paris Eighties Part I “Father and Old Landscapes”, Zen Foto Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2014
“Memory in Illusion", Contemporary by Angela Li, Hong Kong
2013
“Memory in Illusion", +3 Gallery, Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing, China
2012
“Besieged the beast - Three decades”, MEM Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
“Through My Eyes”, The Opposite House, Beijing, China
2011
“The Scenery with Red Color”, Zen Foto Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2010
“Me in My Scenery”, Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing, China
2009
“Twenty Years, Twenty Sky”, Performance Show, Berlin, Germany
2008
“The Community”, Songzhuang Art Museum, Beijing, China
2007
“My Neighborhood”, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA
1999
“Dancing Streets”, Zeit-Foto Salon, Tokyo, Japan
1995
“Pictures in the Hutong”, Exhibition of performing art, Old Town of Tianjin
Selected Group Exhibitions
“Working on History. Contemporary Chinese Photography and the Cultural Revolution”, Museum für Fotografie, Berlin, Germany “40 years of Chinese Contemporary Photography 1976-2017”, Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing, China
2015
“Chinese Photography: Twentieth Century and Beyond”, Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing “The Civil Power”, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
2014
“Three Shadows First Experimental Image Open Exhibition, Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing
2013
“New Framework: Chinese Avant-garde Photography 1980s-90s”, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong
2012
“Chinese Contemporary Photography”, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Belgium
2006
“Between Past and Future: New Photography and Images of China”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California; Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, USA
2005
“Between Past and Future: New Photography and Images of China”, Seattle Museum of Art, Seattle, USA; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK 2004 “Between Past and Future: New Photography and Images of China”, International Center of Photography, and Asia Society, New York, USA; the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
2002
“Re-interpret: 10 Years Of Chinese Experimental Art” Guangzhou Contemporary Art Triennial, Guangdong
1999
“The End of Century, the Changing China”, Experimental Art Exhibition, Art Museum of Chicago University, USA
1998
“Contemporary Photography Exhibition”, Berlin Art Museum, Germany
1997
“New Image-Conceptual Photography”, Beijing
Collections
Chinese Image and Video Archive, Canada
Guangdong Museum, China
Nanjing Square Gallery of Contemporary Art, Jiangsu, China
Zeit-Foto Salon, Japan
Zen Foto Gallery, Japan
Mo Yi’s works have been collected internationally by many other museums and private collectors from U.S.A, France, Britain, Japan and China.