LEO XU PROJECTS is a contemporary art gallery in Shanghai exhibiting young Chinese and international artists.
Located on West Fuxing Road, in the heart of Shanghai’s previous French Concession, LEO XU PROJECTS is the brainchild of Shanghai-based curator and writer Leo Xu. Continuing Xu’s curatorial experiments, the space exhibits a dynamic program of shows and events featuring a young generation of artists from or living in China who work in a variety of media. In addition, the gallery represents and collaborates on a project basis with established international artists.
LEO XU PROJECTS presents and produces projects that respond to new art and ideas evolved around the new media and socio-political climate of the 21st century. By supporting off-site projects with Chinese and international institutions and creative individuals such as architects, writers, filmmakers, designers, and musicians, the gallery also seeks to create dialogue across professions and disciplines and to capture the spirit and aesthetics of the time.
Since its establishment in 2011, LEO XU PROJECTS has played an active role in advising and assisting private and institutional collections in the acquisition of significant works by today’s most exciting artists from China and the global scene.
THE DIRECTOR
The founder and director, Leo Xu, is a curator and writer based in Shanghai.
In 2017, Leo Xu was selected by Apollo magazine as one of “40 under 40 Global” 40 most inspirational professionals in the global art world. Xu was also Apollo’s “40 under 40 Asia” in 2016. Xu was one of artinfo magazine’s ‘30 Rising Power Players in the Eastern Art Scene’ and also, among the international art world’s ‘30 Most Influential Young Figures’ selected by the same publication in 2012.
Xu was the associate director at James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai, from 2009 to 2011, and the director of Chambers Fine Art in Beijing, 2007 to 2009. Prior to that, he worked as curator at Zhu Qizhan Art Museum and assistant curator at Duolun Museum of Modern Art, both in Shanghai. Xu is responsible for many exhibitions and projects that took place in Mainland China and abroad. His recent curatorial endeavors include “The Tell-tale Heart” (2010) a critically well reviewed exhibition exploring the latest trend in video art, and “Alex: A Tribute to Alexander McQueen” (2010-2011) a show celebrating the cultural legacy of the late designer Alexander McQueen. “Catch the Moon in the Water” at James Cohan Gallery New York in 2011, reflects young Chinese’ re-imagining of America and has been positively reviewed by international press.
A critic of contemporary art, Xu writes extensively for many publications and journals, such as Harper’s Bazaar, L’offciel Homme, Numero, LEAP, Art China, Art World, Modern Weekly, Artforum.cn, among many others. He ran art columns on Men’s Uno (2008-2011) and Men’s Joker (2011). He also writes essays for and edits books and exhibition catalogues, such as “Chinese Artists: Texts and Interviews (Chinese contemporary Art Awards)” (2004), “33 Artists: Spanish Printmaking”(2006), “Blog It: New Wave of New Wave”(2008), “Tan Dun’s Organic Music”(2008), “Yun-Fei Ji: Mistaking Each Other for Ghosts” (2010), “Zhang Huan: East Wind, West Wind” (2011), “Alex Katz” (2011), etc. Xu also lectures at New York University and School of Visual Art on contemporary photography.
An artist of photography, Xu has exhibited at various venues, like Pinyao International Photography Festival (Pinyao, 2005) and “Mono” (Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, 2005), among many others.
