XU BING, (b. 1955, Chongqing, China) lives and works in New York and Beijing.
Xu Bing, a key figure in the Chinese New Wave movement, gained international recognition for his iconic and monumental installation Book from the Sky (1988), an installation of printed volumes and scrolls containing four thousand characters individually “invented,” designed and cut into wood-blocks by the artist. His work continues to explore the intersection of language and culture, and the possibilities offered by calligraphy.
Xu Bing received his BFA and MFA from the Printmaking Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). In 1990, he moved to the United States He has had numerous solo and group shows, and received many awards, notably the MacArthur Award in 1999. In 2004, he won the inaugural Wales International Art Prize, Artes Mundi, for a work that incorporated dust from the World Trade Center site. In 2008 he was named Vice President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, his alma mater.