Tong acts covertly and makes noise. Through playful and seemingly fortuitous ways, he creates objects, moving images and line works, to explore wilderness and absurdity, to understand the world he is in, and to interfere with reason and rules. Born on Mount Lu, Tong studied geology at China University of Geosciences in Beijing and received his BFA in Visual Art from Simon Fraser University and MFA in Studio Art from New York University. Tong’s work has been exhibited at Brooklyn BRIC Biennial, Göteborg Biennial, OCAT Biennale, Palais de Tokyo, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Today Art Museum, chi K11 art museum, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Power Station of Art, and Hessel Museum of Art. In 2021, he won the inaugural Choi Foundation Prize for Contemporary Art.
1988 Born in Jiangxi, China
2005-2007 Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China
2008-2012 BA in Fine Art, Visual Art Honors, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada
2012-2014 MA in Fine Art, Studio Art, New York University, New York, USA
Lives and works in New York, USA
Featured Artworks
Yi Xin TONG
Taoist Punk – Nocturnal Reveries of the Outdoors at a Desk
2023-24
Yi Xin TONG
Poems in the Mount Lu Zoo
Yi Xin TONG
Circular Dance to Death at Sea
30'23"
2023
Yi Xin TONG
Animalistic Punk – Bones
160 x 284 cm
2019
Yi Xin TONG
Petrified Seas: External Bones
35 x 22 x 6 cm
2021
Yi Xin TONG
Petrified Seas: Hummingbird II
20 x 28 x 7.5 cm
2021
Yi Xin TONG
Animalistic Punk – Cave
160 x 191 cm
2019
Yi Xin TONG
Vomit Fitness
158 x 43 x 23 cm
2016
Yi Xin TONG
Gustavo’s Gas Stove
60 x 80 cm x 2
2015
Yi Xin TONG
Most Tranquil Night
46 x 61 cm
2023
Yi Xin TONG
Angel and Ranger
67 x 48.5 cm
2023