Xiao Yu was born in Inner Mongolia in 1965. He was graduated from the Mural Painting Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in1989. Xiao is considered as an “extraordinary artist” from the Central Academy of Fine Arts—being a mainstream artist of the Academy of Fine Arts, yet he is not classified as “in the traditional sense of the artist group” of his generation. Xiao exists independently in his own distinct artistic style.
Xiao’s artistry development is based on his personal perception and interpretation of life; where he is deeply involved about human life and social rules, especially about the ancient and modern Chinese society and the foreign societies as in the universe. To him, all these are closely related to the specific present, where no one can ever solve the proposition. Xiao spent a lot of his time to experience and uses art to interpret, to communicate… very much like a literati self-deprecating. Xiao aims to provoke the audiences to mobilize their prior experiences; thus, advances them into a state of reflection—” an artwork should have more than one interpretation…” With a genuine and open approach, an artist should spark viewers’ intangible sensitivity and perception at no time !
Xiao was being invited to participate in numerous international exhibitions : 15th Istanbul Biennale, La Biennale di Venezia, Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art, Shanghai Biennale and Guangzhou Triennial including the Offsite Project at the Royal College of Art in London. He has exhibited works at Centre Pompidou, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Japan, Seoul Art Museum, Bern Art Museum Switzerland, NAMOC, Shanghai Art Museum, Guangdong Art Museum, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Pace Beijing and other eminent exhibition spaces.
He was awarded the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) in 2000.
15th Istanbul Biennale – LAND is the homeland shared by humans and animals. Countless wars and political battles all affect our dependence on it in a thrilling form. The famous city of Istanbul has experienced the mutual coverage of various civilizations for thousands of years, but the history continues. In the process of unlimited growth of human power, land is more closely controlled by human will. Instead we are also locked by the land. I believe there must be a mysterious power in the universe that will free us. Reducing land to our shared living resources is no longer an important factor in bringing death and suffering. Animals are no exception... whether as our neighbors or dependent partners. There must be a magical door in the world waiting for us to open, so that we can walk out of the cave and look back at our home… to unlock the magic spell on the land.
蕭昱於1965年出生內蒙古。1989年畢業於北京中央美術學院 壁畫系。有人說蕭昱是畢業於中央美術學院的一個另類，他的作品以一系列顛覆物種遺傳學的人工嫁接的動物標本為主。雖然這樣的評價難免有些極端，但恰恰說明了蕭昱作為美術學院畢業生這樣一種主流藝術家的身份，並不像傳統意義上在他所生的年代的藝術家群體中被歸類為“某某主義”，“某某藝術”或是“某某一代”，而是以他自己鮮明的藝術風格獨立存在著。蕭昱一直在深刻地思索，思索關於人類生命，社會規則這類無論古今中外都普遍存在，同時又和具體的當下發生緊密聯繫而永遠解答不完的命題，他花全部的生命來體驗，像文人般自嘲，用藝術來詮釋。
蕭氏獲邀於多個國際展覽展出，其中包括：第十五屆伊斯坦布爾雙年展，威尼斯雙年展，里昂當代藝術雙年展，上海雙年展和廣州三年展及其於倫敦皇家藝術學院的場外項目。他曾在龐畢度藝術中心，福岡亞洲美術館，國立現代美術首爾館，瑞士伯恩美術館，NAMOC，上海美術館，廣東美術館，尤倫斯當代藝術中心（UCCA），北京佩斯畫廊等展出作品。
蕭昱寫於伊斯坦布爾當代美術館20170913
土地是人類和動物共有的賴以生存的家園。無數的戰爭和政治爭鬥無不以驚心動魄的形態影響著我們對它的依存。伊斯坦布爾這座著名城市千百年來經歷著各種文明的相互覆蓋呈現出今天的現實面貌，但歷史仍在繼續。人類的權力無限的增長過程中，土地更加被人類意志控制的嚴密。相反我們也被土地鎖緊。我相信宇宙中一定還有一種神秘的力量，可以讓我們解放出來。讓土地還原成為我們共有的生存資源，再也不是帶來死亡和苦難的重要因素。動物也不例外......無論作為我們的鄰居還是相依的夥伴。
世界一定還有一扇神奇的門等待我們去開啟，讓我們能夠走出洞穴回望自己的家園。解開關於土地的魔咒。