Tang Nanan in his Hangzhou studio, painting Prosperous Mountains, July 2017.
Image: Dong Bo. Courtnesy of Tang Nannan studio.
Tang Nannan was born in Yunxiao, Fujian Province, in 1969. In early 2000, he finished the studies of New Media Art at the Department of Fine Arts in Xiamen University, followed by starting a teaching position at the Art College in Jimei University in 2004. In 2017, he obtained his PhD degree in Inter-Media Art from China Academy of Art. His works are featured in the China Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale. He is currently serving as a faculty member at his alma maters, China Academy of Art and the Art College in Jimei University. Focusing on the feeling of nostalgia in the modern time, Tang’s work investigates into the passage of time, the formation and preservation of memory, myths and poetry, life and death as presented in the verbal discourse and visual archive. Using the research method of cultural anthropology, the artist tries to integrate multiple forms of art making – painting, video, installation, photography, multi-channel video theatre – to explore and visualize the modern human condition through mapping out his own unusual journey.
