Mu Boyan
Mu Boyan was born in 1976 in Jinan, Shandong Province, China. He finished his bachelor’s degree from the sculpture department of CAFA in 2002 and continued to pursue his master’s there. He graduated and joined faculty at sculpture department of CAFA in the year 2005.
Mu showed an acute understanding of mould and space at an early age. Mu’s works are mainly sculptures and installations, and he has been dedicated in creating his magnum opus “Fat Men” for many years. In this series of works, he uses resin as coloring, rich and overflowing flesh, rumpled up on their bodies, creating images of naked men with paunchy bellies in various sizes. Some of them are disturbingly enormous, while some others are extremely miniature. Their motions light and fluid, which seem to bear no weight at all. Under Mu’s hands, these fat men are molded into unique shapes cater to different exhibition spaces, conveying a childlike, slack character with a calm and collected spirit. Although Mu considers models are the best teachers, his “Fat Men” didn’t model from any real characters.
He hopes to transform flesh into a language, telling the tales of life in intricate details. The lifeless materials he used gradually acquired a sense of breathing after repetitive, tedious adjustments, preserving the fleeting details in several scenes, enabling the audience to rediscover the true meanings of life and reflect upon themselves through fragmented traces.
ARTWORKS
Color on bronze
30 x 70 x 8 cm
2015
Mixed media
72 x 61 x 17 cm
2015
Mixed media
45 x 62 x 14 cm
2015
Color on bronze
25 x 25 x 5 + 25 x 100 x 5 cm
edition of 8
2014
Mixed media
18.5 x 15.5 x 12 cm
edition of 5
2012
Mixed Media
width 176 cm
fat man 7 x 8 x 9 cm
edition of 8
2012
Mixed media
37 x 30 x 15 cm
edition of 8
2012
Mixed media
37 x 30 x 15 cm
edition of 8
2012
Mixed media
13.5 x 8 x 7 cm
2012
Mixed media
8 x 13.5 x 11.5 cm
edition of 12
2012
Mixed media
12 x 8 x 9.5 cm
edition of 12
2012
Mixed media
12 x 11 x 7 cm
edition of 12
2012
Color on resin
100 x 90 x 40 cm
edition of 5
2011
Mixed material, electric motor
247 x 247 x 250 cm
2008-2009
Mixed media, electrical device
55 x 55 x 22 cm
2008-2009
Mixed media, electrical device
100 x 100 x 80 cm
2008-2009
Color on bronze
70 x 30 x 25 cm
2006-2007
Color on bronze
100 x 60 x 18 cm
2006-2007
Travertine
27 x 20 x 17 cm
2022
Color on Stainless Steel
40 x 32 x 28 cm
2022
White Marble
37 x 31 x 34 cm
2022
Color on stainless steel
45 x 60 x 50 cm
2022
Color on stainless steel
130 x 22 x 24 cm
2021-2022
Exhibitions
Practice – Mu Boyan Works
2015.12.27 – 2016.02.27
MU BOYAN – Process
2013.01.13 – 2013.03.13
Year Month Day – Mu Boyan’s new solo exhibition
2009.06.27 – 2009.08.31
Fatty at AYE Gallery
2007.07.16 – 2007.09.09
Fatty — Mu Boyan New Works
2022.11.20 – 2023.01.12
News
Surreal Realities – Ji Dachun, Liu Wei, Mu Boyan
Ludwig Musuem, Koblenz, Germany
2015.06.14 – 2015.08.16
Gallery Hotel Art Project 3
2012.11 – 2013.04
China’s ReVision
Ludwig Musuem, Koblenz, Germany
2008.11.09 – 2009.01.09
Publications
Selected Articles
Fatty — Written Before the Solo Exhibition of Mu Boyan
by Tian Kai
Swinging between Vision and Touch
by PENG Feng
A Conversation with Mu Boyan
by Philip Tinari
Mr. Sun Jiabo Talking About the Sculpture by Mu Boyan
by Sun Jiabo
