Yi Xin TONG

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

  • Selected Solo Exhibitions

    2025
    Noise Chapel, BY ART MATTERS, Hangzhou, China

    2024
    Taoist Punk, Candice Madey, New York, USA
    Bony Horseman, De Liceiras, Porto, Portugal

    2023
    Ring over Pond over Tusks, Candice Madey, New York, USA

    2022
    Petrified Seas, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China
    Environmental Love Manual, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
    Environnment, Mon Amour, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

    2020
    World River Atlas, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China

    2019
    The Attraction Show – Origin of Ripples, Snarte Space, Nanchang, China

    2018
    Going Outside, curated by Betti-Sue Hertz, NanHai Art, Millbrae, USA

    2017
    Alien, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China
    NYC Fishing Trip, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, USA

    2016
    Strange New Health, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
    Lots of Pulp, SBC Gallery, Brooklyn, USA

    2015
    Gas Station VIII: Rubber Trumpet, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China

    2014
    Thin Air, Bright Light, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
    The Phenotypic Traits of Facets, AVENUE, Vancouver, Canada

    2013
    Claude Is Allergic to Unicorns, 80 WSE Gallery, New York, USA

  • Selected Group Exhibitions

    2024
    Shan Shui Reboot, China Institute Gallery, New York, USA
    Wan Hai Hotel, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
    Vanitas, Chart, New York, USA
    Two Sides of One Coin, Taikang Art Museum, Beijing, China
    Interface of the Abyss, Below Grand, New York, USA
    Vanguard Onwards, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China
    Fictitious Trade, Shanghai International Arts Festival, Shanghai, China

    2023
    Motion is Action – 35 Years of Chinese Media Art, By Art Matters Museum, Hangzhou, China
    NADA Miami, Candice Madey, Miami, USA
    Art Within Reach, APSMUSEUM, Shanghai, China
    At Sunrise and Sunset, Tides Rise and Fall, curated by Boyan Li, Qi Mu Space, Beijing, China
    White Holes, curated by Yang Zi, 798CUBE, Beijing, China
    Up in the Air, curated by Lu Mingjun, Spurs Gallery, Beijing, China
    Nián Nián: The Power and Agency of Animal Forms, curated by Zi Yang, Deji Art Museum, Nanjing, China
    Map of Dusk, Afternoon Projects, Jinjiang Hotel, Shanghai, China
    Layered Surface, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China

    2022
    Beast, Chimera, Kin, Hessel Museum of Art, New York, USA

    2021
    Death Ray on the Coral Island. Science Fiction and its Archeology, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
    Boomerang – OCAT Biennale 2021, OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China
    Durational, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China
    Liquid Ground, Para Site, Hong Kong, China
    Being in the Void, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
    From Checkers to Complex Systems, Times Art Museum, Chengdu, China

    2020
    Meditations in an Emergency, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
    Object Play, Underwater New York, New York, USA
    Catastrophic Beauty, Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, USA
    One Tree Fifty Ideas, OōEli, Hangzhou, China

    2019
    Extreme Mix – Guangzhou Airport Biennial, Guangzhou Airport Resort, Guangzhou, China
    BRIC Biennial III, BRIC House, Brooklyn, USA
    Disaster of Extra Epic Proportions, curated by Alvin Li, chi K11 Art Museum, Shanghai, China
    Long March Project: The Deficit Faction, Long March Space, Beijing, China
    Adrift, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
    Long Day, Aranya Art Centre, Qinhuangdao, China
    Treasure Island Phantoms, CLC Gallery Venture, Beijing, China
    To Speculate, Of Nature, NanHai Art, Millbrae, USA
    Disappearing Archives, Mocube, Beijing, China

    2018
    Shadow as a Stain, ACRE, Chicago, USA
    Yanping Art Harvest in the Village, Jiulong Village, China
    The Ordinary and the Revolutionary: Landscapes of Mountain Huang and Mountain Lu, Taikang Space, Beijing, China

    2017
    Roadside Picnic, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
    Light Up Therapy Resort, PSA Emerging Curators Project, Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, China
    40 Pest Street, Alyssa Davis Gallery, New York, USA
    How to Squeeze 8 Days Inside 1 Week, curated by Francesco Bonami, JNBY, Beijing, China
    To Be an Image Maker, Jimei Arles International Photo Festival, Jimei Citizen Center, Xiamen, China
    Tall Non-Fat Raspberry White Mocha Latte, Investment Projects, New York, USA
    Photo Shanghai, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China
    Being Information, SSSTART Exhibition, Shanghai, China
    All-Day Breakfast, First Canada Place Gallery, Toronto, Canada
    Drive-thru, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
    Beat the System Like a Dead Horse, Museum Gallery, Brooklyn, USA
    All Happens After Sunset…, MOCA Pavilion, Shanghai, China

    2016
    Trembling Surface, Long March Space, Beijing, China
    Annals of Floating Island, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, China
    Warehouse Story V, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai, China
    Broken Machine, Panoply Performance Lab, Brooklyn, USA
    Miller Time, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
    Action – Chang Lichi Collection Exhibition, Blue Roof Museum, Chengdu, China
    Reknown, NYU Shanghai Art Gallery, Shanghai, China

    2015
    The Real Thing, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
    Emerging Digital Artists Award Screening, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
    Feature Art Fair, Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre, Toronto, Canada
    Retina of the Unconscious, The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery, New York, USA
    Moving Image Programme, OCAT Museum, Shanghai, China
    West Bund Art & Design 2015, Vanguard Gallery, West Bund Art Center, Shanghai, China
    Photo Shanghai, Vanguard Gallery, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China
    Remainder; Us for Never Forever for the First and the Last Month, Space Baptist, Brooklyn, USA
    Household Goods and Gift Items, Utopia Parkway, Queens, USA
    Through a Window: Visual Art and SFU 1965–2015, Vancouver, Canada
    Nightstand, Galerie de La Rotonde de Stalingrad, Paris, France

    2014
    Begin from Chaos, Inna Contemporary Art Space, Hangzhou, China
    Boxes: Lost in Circulation, Flushing Town Hall, Queens, USA
    Reflecting on Olana, Catwalk Institute, Catskill, USA
    Pingyao International Photography Festival, Ancient City of Pingyao, China
    Somewhere Else, DeKalb Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, USA
    I Like Fluorescent Light (I Love the Sun), 80 WSE Gallery, New York, USA

    2013
    DUMBO Arts Festival Exhibition, 85 Washington Street Gallery, Brooklyn, USA
    Proof 20, Gallery 44, Toronto, Canada
    Stony Brook University Philosophy and the Arts Conference Exhibition, The Alchemical Theatre Laboratory, New York, USA
    NYU First Year MFA Exhibition, Rosenberg Gallery, New York, USA
    Art/Work, Coohaus Art, New York, USA

    2012
    Losing Ground: Experimental Video Shorts from Canada’s West Coast, VIVO Media Arts Centre, Berlin, Germany
    BMO 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto, Canada
    Animation Automation, Khyber Arts Centre, Centre for Art Tapes, Halifax, Canada
    Urban Art Exhibition, Gallery 1313, Toronto, Canada
    I Flux, Audain Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
    So Crazy It Just Might Work, Audain Gallery, Vancouver, Canada

    2011
    Square Pegs IV, Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, Kingston, Canada
    Summer Live: Time-Based Video Program, Vancouver 125, Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada
    A Furtive Conundrum: Practicing the Furtive, 1612 Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
    BYOB Vancouver, Drop Out Video Arts, W2 Storyeum, Vancouver, Canada
    I Could Be Wrong, Audain Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
    Counter Mapping, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Roundhouse, Vancouver, Canada

    2010
    Signal & Noise X Media Art Festival, VIVO Media Arts Centre, Vancouver, Canada
    The Sci-Fi Show, Gam Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
    Trade, 221A Artist Run Centre, off-site exhibition at Centre A, Vancouver, Canada
    For the Moment, W2 Community Media Arts, Vancouver, Canada
    Even, 221A Artist Run Centre, Vancouver, Canada

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