Biography:

Xu Tan (b. 1957, Wuhan, Hubei Province) is an artist who lives and works in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

In 1979, Xu was admitted to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, where he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Oil Painting in 1983 and 1989 respectively. In 1993, Xu joined the Big-Tail Elephant Group, organized by Chen Shaoxiong, Lin Yilin and Liang Juhui, among others. Xu participated in two 'Big-Tail Elephant Group' exhibitions held in 1994 and 1996.

Xu often uses text, images, video, performance and installation in his work to express his concern for a range of social issues. Xu’s works have appeared in major exhibitions such as ‘Cities on the Move’ (Vienna, Bordeaux, New York, Copenhagen, Bangkok and Thailand, 1997–1999), the 1998 Taipei Biennial, the third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Brisbane, 1999), the second Berlin Biennial (2002), the fourth Gwangju Biennale (South Korea, 2002), the second Guangzhou Triennial (2005), and the 50^th and 53^rd Venice Biennales (2003, 2009).