Zou Cao holds an MA in Oil Painting from the Academy of Arts, Northeast Normal University and a PhD in Western Philosophy from the Academy of Philosophical and Social Studies, Jilin University. He also holds a post-doc in the Study of Fine Arts, Central Academy of Fine Arts. His special experience of academic studies and research has infused unique characteristics of con­ceptual art into his artistic creation, which is rich and diverse. They are divided into four major categories according to time and theme.

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From 2002 to 2012, Zou's artistic creation is themed on a unique symbol "fingerprints". For nearly 10 years, he had produced 15 series of fingerprint works. His core idea is to adopt the research methodology of 2010 to 2015; focusing on the con­temporary combination of traditional Chinese mentality with modern western art, in pursuit of a Chinese international contemporary artistic school. His efforts were shown in his solo exhibition “The Secret to Clouds and Mountains staged in Today Art Museum”. From 2015 onwards, Zou's developed his science-technology art style, discussing the topic of the possibility of art in our future featuring big data and science and technol­ogy. He has not only produced lots of sci-tech artistic works, but also owned three independent patents of scientific inventions. From 2016 on­wards, Zou's artistic creation not only focuses on the body of traditional art, but also expands to the level of "social sculptures". That year, he made joint efforts with “Today Art Museum and Lenovo ThinkPad” to initiate an in­ternational art navigation project “Self-consciousness / Call for Actions”. In 2017, he took the project to attend the parallel exhibition MODUS of the 57th Venice Biennial and won positive comments worldwide. This ex­hibition was considered by Vogue and Vanity Fair as the most worthy par­allel exhibition during the Biennial. The President of Venice Biennial and the President of the parallel exhibition sent letters of congratulations re­spectively. During the FIFA World Cup in Russia, Zou attended an online video show “New Three-taste Liaozhai” set up by Mr. Liu Jianhong, the famous football anchorer. He was invited to comment on art and football during the 12-series show with 200 million person times video-on-demand. The social sculpture works of Zou are intended to make artistic creation as a transitional methodology instead of an ultimate purpose, so that art can be related with more people and has its own temperature and attitude.

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• Zou Cao has been profoundly recognized and was invited to the grand opening of Himalayas Art Museum, Shanghai in June 2013. 

• Award- winner of the Third Jilin Provincial Youth Art Exhibition, Changchun, China in 2003. Widely Collected all over the world, held solo and group exhibitions in Taiwan, Korea, Austria, Germany, etc. 

• World famous artist Ai Weiwei has spoken about his admiration of his works and that fact alone adds value to any available pieces on the market. 

• Had a sell-out exhibition with Art Futures Group in 2014. Zao Cao was in collaboration with IBM ThinkPad in 2015 and 2016, promoting inte­gration of technology and Chinese
  contem­porary art. 

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Educations and Background 

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1995 

Instructor at Fushun Normal College of Art, Liaoning province 

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2004

Graduated from Art College of Northeast Normal University - Master's Degree

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2007

Instructor at Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts University

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2008

Doctor Degree of Philosophy at Jilin University 

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2011

Graduated from Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts University - Postdoctoral degree 

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Solo Exhibitions

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2018

Being through Nothing, Beijing Art Now Gallery, Beijing, China

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2015

Yunshan Formula, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

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2014

Fingerprint & Context, ZHC Art Centre, Beijing, China

Strange and Familiar, Art Futures Group, Hong Kong

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2012

Art and Commerce, Werkstatt - Galerie Kappich,

Hamburg, Germany

Landscape under the thumb, Michael Schultz Gallery, Beijing, China

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2011

Perfect, Michael Schultz Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

Authentic Peerless, Kunsthalle Dresden, Germany

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2010

Timeless Classic, Von Lintel Gallery, New York, USA

Identity, Michael Schultz Gallery, Beijing, China

Marilyn Beneath The Middle Finger, Contemporary Art Space, Salzburg, Austria

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2009

Fingerprints, Michael Schultz Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

These are only some fingerprints 1, Stiftung Starke Lowenpalais, Berlin, Germany

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2008

The New Art That Overtakes Pop - Art, Modern Art Gallery, Taiwan

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2007

East is Red, Wellington Gallery, Hong Kong

Decoding the Code of Signs, Pan & Wei Gallery, Beijing, China

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Group Exhibitions

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2019

Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

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2018

"The Illumination of Love and Philanthropy" Charity Art Exhibition, Art Futures Group, Hong Kong

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2017

"What Has To Be Done" Art, Environment and Cross Disciplinary

Project, Today Art Museum, Beijing

"Boundless: Ongoing-Chinese Ink Art 2017", Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, China

57th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition, Venice, Italy

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2016

'Think' Creates Possibilities In Life, UCCA, Beijing

Humanistic Nature and Society (ShanShui 山水）- An Insight Into The Future, Shanghai Himalayas Museum

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2015

Ink Painting and construction of contemporary Chinese art, Chinese

American Museum, San Francisco