York University
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Gu Wenda (1955­– ) is a Chinese artist born in Shanghai who lives and works in New York City. Known for his large-scale ink paintings and multi-media installations that use human hair, his work deals with themes of traditional Chinese calligraphy and language, cultural identity, and internationalism.

During the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Wenda was a member of the Red Guard and worked to simplify the Chinese language. During this period, he was introduced to calligraphy and woodcarving. Wenda’s knowledge of calligraphy became a major influence on his artistic practice. In 1976, Wenda graduated from the Shanghai School of Arts, and in 1981, he obtained his MFA from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he studied under classical landscape painter Lu Yanshao.

After graduation, Wenda began producing large ink paintings that depicted a series of invented meaningless Chinese Ideograms. Despite appearing traditional, the characters were illegible. In his manipulation of Chinese calligraphy, Wenda emphasized the limits of human knowledge. An exhibition of these paintings in 1986 was closed by the Chinese authorities. They assumed that the illegible characters must contain subversive messages. The exhibition was later reopened on the condition that only professional artists could attend. This event impacted contemporary Chinese art, and it has been regarded as the beginning of Conceptual Ink Art in China.

In 1987, Wenda immigrated to New York City to participate in the international art world. He extended his interest in language, focusing on bodily materials to illustrate the permeability of cultural boundaries and a new world of internationalism. In 1993, he began the United Nations Project which includes over 21 projects and subprojects that incorporated human hair collected from over a million people. The amalgamated genetic materials that make up the works symbolize the diversity of the world and a desire to move towards true internationalism. Many of the works also contain illegible characters to emphasize the fragmentation of communication and the way that contemporary culture has been constructed based on cultural misunderstandings. 

Since 1981, Wenda has participated in many international solo and group exhibitions, including the first survey exhibition of his work which was held at the National Gallery of Australia from 2001 to 2002. A visual and critical guide of Wenda’s work titled Wenda Gu: Art from Middle Kingdom to Biological Millennium was published by MIT Press in 2003. Wenda currently lives and works in Brooklyn Heights with his wife, interior designer Kathryn Scott. He also maintains studios in Shanghai and Xi’an China.