Born in Zhengzhou, Henan, 1970, Duan Jianyu currently lives and works in Guangzhou. She studied painting at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine art. Duan’s practice is often related to migration. It seems that the figures on her canvas always travel on the road, which is inseparable from her personal experience. Popular culture has impacted the artist significantly. No matter how inconsistent the proportions in her works are from the reality, she always reflects the feeling of our life in contemporary China so accurately. Duan has always walked along the boundary between narrative painting and painting narrative. Her paintings start from an outline with original ideas and life forms, and then grow into a painterly reality—this reality is constantly collided, confronted and adjusted by various influences, situations and ideas in consciousness, presenting the same complexity as the material reality we face; and also based on renewed trust in the relationship between painting and life experience.

Recent solo exhibitions of her work include: “The Foam of Days” (Mirrored Gardens, Guangzhou, 2022), “Automatic Writing—Automatic Understanding” (Pond Society, Shanghai, 2020), “Duan Jianyu” (Art Basel, Switzerland, 2019), “Sharp Sharp Smart” (Mirrored Gardens, Guangzhou, 2016), “A Potent Force: Duan Jianyu and Hu Xiaoyuan” (the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, 2013). Her works were also featured in the international group exhibitions and biennales, including “One Hand Clapping” (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2018), the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Brisbane, Australia, 2015), the 3rd Guangzhou Triennial “Farewell to Post-Colonialism” (Guangdong MOA, Guangzhou, 2008). She received the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) for Best Artist in 2010.