1956 Born in Siping City, Jilin Province, 1982 Graduated from the Fine Art Department of Northeast University, Changchun, Jilin Province.
Over the past twenty years, established artist Pan Dehai has been widely known for creating the image of the ‘Corn Men’ in his works. And for artists who were active in the 1980s, the name of Pan Dehai is also associated with an influential group of artists in the history of Chinese Contemporary Art, that is ‘Southwestern Art Group’, which came into being after the ‘New Age’ Art Exhibition. For Pan Dehai, an artist who sets to exploring the passions of life and the questions in essence, his works judges these aspects from a special perspective, making us understand this world more truthfully and get to know what we are interested in.
In form, the ‘Corn Men’ are a synonym of affluent materialistic life and various desirers; yet in content they are often a synonym of simple-‐minded people, and when the image of these Corn Men is connected with the social, political and life scenes during the red era, these figures dressed in blue uniforms give us a sense of hardly understandable humor and absurdity. This not only enables us to feel the empty revolutionary ideals in everybody’s minds at that time, but also reminds us that there is still a small-‐peasant mentality and other feudal ideas in our pursuit for materialistic desires today. For his latest series, Pan Dehai continues to bring forward this concept but through a more subtle way of expression.
‘Our everyday life is comprised mainly of petty things and trifling matters. However, to ‘fuss over’ them is not without sense. To observe them carefully can bring some kind of change to ourselves, to experience this change will bring our thoughts and feelings in the stream of our past and present as well as stimulate our potential talents, to allow us to go back to the provenance of art and the departure of life.’ – Pan Dehai , 2011
Solo Exhibitions
2001 “Pan Dehai- Chubby Series” Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
1994 “Pan Dehai’s Solo Exhibition” Goethe Institute, Beijing
Selected Group Exhibitions
2005 “Awakening: La France Mandarine- The French Influence on Chinese Art”, National Museum of Art, Beijing, China
2004 “Awakening: La France Mandarine- The French Influence on Chinese Art”, Urban Planning Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China
2003 “Guiyang Oil Painting Biennale”, Guiyao, China
Schoeni Art Gallery Anniversary Exhibition, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
2002 “Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition”, Germany
2001 “Girls and Boys”, Soobin Art Gallery, Beijing, China
2000 “Asian Contemporary Art Exhibition”, Contemporary Art Gallery, London
1996 “Reality, Today and Tomorrow”, International Art Gallery, Beijing
1993 “From Mao to Pop Art”, Australian Art Museum, Melbourne Art Museum, Melbourne, Australia
“Post ’89 New Art”, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
1991 “Annual Exhibition of Oil Painting”, Chinese History and Military Museum, Beijing, China
1986 Organised and participated in Southwest Art Research Group
1985 “New Image Art Exhibition”, Shanghai and Nanjing