Sichong Xie is a multidisciplinary artist currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Her practice combines movement and material in body-based sculptural forms, including masks, costumes, and other objects. By placing traditional sculptural forms within new sites, materials, and social constructs, she investigates these forms and movements within global communities to re-consider and re-envision shared spaces and performative practices. She raises questions about identity, politics, cross-culturalism, and the surreal characteristics of her body in the ever-changing environment.
Xie received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, CA. She is the recipient of the 2022 MAP Fund Award and the 2021 Artadia Los Angeles Award. Her most recent installation, Memory Structure, Scaffold Series, at the Wende Museum in Los Angeles, features objects and arrangements emblematic of memory and temporality: bamboo scaffolding, embroidery on industrial mesh, and a set of laser-engraved drawings that will fade from continual exposure to light, through which she reimagines architectural drawings created by her grandfather in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This installation brings the materiality of the natural bamboo into direct conversation with the mass-produced nature of the scaffold and its role in development. Xie was a fellow artist at MacDowell, the Studios at MASS MoCA, Yaddo, the Watermill Center, the Fine Arts Work Center, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. In 2017, Xie was chosen to participate at the Hauser & Wirth Somerset Exchange residency in Bath, U.K., where she created a four-hour durational performance/installation, "Walking With The Disappeared." Her works have been supported with grants from the Marciano Art Foundation, Artadia, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation.
EDUCATION
Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (June 2018-August 2018)
Fellowship Award at the Residency Skowhegan, MA
MFA in Photography and Media + Integrated Media (2015-2017)
California Institute of the Arts Valencia, CA
BFA in Fine Arts Graduated on May 2014
Columbus College of Art & Design Columbus, OH
Bachelor of Fine Arts (equivalent) May 2012
Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts Xi’an, China
ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS/RESIDENCIES
2023
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts - Omaha, NE, USA
Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship - Provincetown, MA, USA
The Watermill Center Alumni Retreat Residency - Long Island, NY
2022
MacDowell Colony - Peterborough, NH, USA
Zentrum fur Kunst und Urbanistik - Berlin, Germany
Vermont Studio Center Fellowship - Johnson, VT, USA
Marble House Project - Dorset, VT, USA
2021
Camera Obscura Art Lab Residency - Santa Monica, CA, USA
McColl Center for Art + Innovation - Charlotte, NC, USA
2020
Automata Arts Residency - Los Angeles, CA, USA
2019
The Corporation of Yaddo Artist Residency - Saratoga Springs, NY, USA
The Studios at MASS MoCA Residency - North Adams, MA, USA
Salmon Creek Farm Artist Residency - Albion, CA, USA
2018
Armory Center for the Arts Teaching Fellowship - Los Angeles, USA (2018-2019)
Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture - Madison, ME, USA
The Reef Artist Residency - Los Angeles, USA
2017
Hauser & Wirth Somerset Exchange Residency - Bath, U.K.
The Watermill Center Summer Residency - Long Island, NY
Venice Biennale CalArts "The Pavilions" Residency - Venice, Italy; Kassel, Germany; Munster, Germany
2016
The Watermill Center Summer Residency – Long Island, NY
2015
Da Li International Photography and Film Festival Visiting Artist in Residence - Da Li, China
2014
Mildred's Lane Summer Fellowship Residency, HumanYingWork Styles Session Participant - Narrowsburg, NY
2013
New York Studio Residency Program/AICAD – New York, NY
AWARDS/CONTESTS
2023 The Sinatra Award, University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, CA August 2023
2022 MAP Fund Award, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Howard Foundation, and Mellon Foundation, NYC December 2022
2021 Artadia Los Angeles Award, Marciano Art Foundation Award, ARTADIA, Brooklyn, NY March 2021
Visual Artist Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles, CA May 2020
United States Artists Fellowship Award Nomination, Chicago, IL January 2021
Visual Artist Grants Award, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York, NY January 2020
2nd Place at the Chiquita Canyon Awards, Held at California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA March 2016
Dean’s Grant, California Institute of the Arts, 2015 - 2017
1st Place at the AOI Illustration Contest & Exhibition, Held at Rivet Gallery, Columbus, OH March 2013
President List Scholarship, Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH 2011-2013
Second Place, They Draw & Travel, Columbus, OH March 2012
SOLO EXHIBITION
2023
Elephant In The Dark, Hudson D. Walker Gallery at Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA, USA
2021
Memory Structure, Scaffold Series, Wende Museum Garden, Culver City, CA, USA
2020
Lake Lonely, Elephant Art Space, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2019
With The Notes Of Far-Away Song Floating From The Other Shore, Automata Arts, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2018
When The Peaks Of Our Washing Sound Come Together, My Tree House Will Have A Roof (Durational Performance), Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Washing Day: Losing and Recollecting Memories (Site-Specific Performance/Installation), AR Projects, Los Angeles, USA
2017
Walking With The Disappeared (Durational Performance), Hauser & Wirth Somerset Gallery, Bruton, UK
We Know We Could Go To Jail, D300 Gallery, Valencia, CA, USA
Do Donkeys Know Politics & A Story (Film Screening), Bijou Theater, Valencia, CA, USA
2016
You Can't Take That Away From Me, L Shape Gallery, Valencia, CA, USA
2015
Do Birds Know Politics, Beaton Gallery, Columbus, OH
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION
2023
Fine Arts Work Center Visual Arts Fellows Exhibition, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA, USA
Collective Memory Installation, The Grand Park, Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Irrational Exhibits 12: Body, Materiality and Systems, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2022
Renew - A Recent Survey in Chinese Contemporary Photography, Eli Klein Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The Sail From The Red Sea, Zentrum fur Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin, Germany
The 1st Chengdu International Photography Festival, Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, Chengdu, China
2021
Conflict Point, McColl Center, Charlotte, NC, USA
The Drawing Center Viewing Program, The Drawing Center, New York, NY, USA
Poetic Research Bureau, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Memory Walk, Automata Arts, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2020
Inverse Performance Art Festival, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and The Momentary, Bentonville, AR, USA
We Are Here, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Distant Future, Vermont Studio Center, Gallery II, VT, USA
Opera Povera, Open Form Opera: The Pink Moon, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2019
The Medea Insurrection, Wende Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Irrational Exhibits 11: Placemaking and Social Memory, Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Becoming - Experimental Video Works, Eli Klein Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Limited Access 8 Festival, Tehran, Iran
The 57th Ann Arbor Film Festival, The Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
4TH WALL: HER.E I SEE LOTUS, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA
The Boat Has Sailed, Hasn't It?, Coaxial Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2018
Mapping the City: A Vision of History and City, OCAT Museum in Chengdu, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Noctem Diaboli, The Living Gallery Outpost, New York, NY, USA
Skowhegan Book Meet, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculptures NY Space, New York, NY, USA
Mapping the City: A Vision of History and Xi’An, OCAT Art Museum, Xi’An, China
5-Nine Variations, The Reef Artist Residency, Los Angeles, CA, USA
The 2018 New Genre Arts Festival, Living Arts of Tulsa Gallery, Tulsa, OK, USA
2017
See What You Mean, Getty Museum (Harry Gamboa Jr.'s Performance Group "Slipping Into Something More"), Los Angeles, CA, USA
Tracing Memory With The Disappeared, Automata Arts Gallery (Two Artists Exhibition), Los Angeles, CA, USA
Clothing Optional, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Discovering Watermill Day, The Watermill Center, Long Island, NY, USA
Irrational Exhibits 10th Anniversary: Mapping the Divide, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, CA, USA
The 2nd Changjiang Photo & Video Biennale Exhibition, Changjiang Art Museum, Chongqing, China
Sounds of Central Valley, Bijou Theater, Valencia, CA, USA
Far Bazaar, Alternative Art Fair and Art Collective Festival, Cerritos College Fine Arts Galleries, Norwalk, CA, USA
GLAMFA Exhibition, Cal State Long Beach Art Galleries, Long Beach, CA, USA
2016
The Watermill Center for Performance GALA: House of Madness, Long Island, NY, USA
Discovering Watermill Day, The Watermill Center, Long Island, NY, USA
Photo LA, The Reef Art Galleries, Los Angeles, CA, USA
The 3rd Photo Independent Art Fair, Raleigh Studios Hollywood, Hollywood, CA, USA
Always A Body, Glass Box Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Ecologies, Photo LA Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Nothing To See, D300 Gallery, Valencia, CA, USA
2015
HumanUfactory Workstyles, Sullivan Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Dancing Tables, Mildred's Lane, Narrowsburg, NY, USA
2014
YOUNG HEARTS III, Sean Christopher Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
En Massse, or sameness, Skylab Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
2013
Curate NYC 2013, Chashama Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Contemporary Art Fair, New York Convention Center, New York, NY, USA
Dumbo Art Festival, Dumbo Art District, New York, NY, USA
Sweet Breads, New York Studio Residency / AICAD, New York, NY, USA
AOI Show, Rivet Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
Rotating Exhibit, Universal Green House Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
Columbus College of Art & Design Art Fair, Columbus, OH, USA
Diverse, Beaton Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
2012
Mapping the City, Beaton Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA
You Can’t Take That Away From Me, The Canzani Center, Columbus, OH, USA
2011
The 100th Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition, Xi’An, China
2009
The 98th Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition, Xi’An, China
TEACHING
2021 spring, instructor, Video Art, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2020 spring, Instructor, Video Art, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2019 summer, Instructor, Clay Studio, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2019 spring, Instructor, Dreamscape, Field Trip Classes, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2018 fall, Instructor, Dreamscape, Field Trip Classes, Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, USA
2018 summer, Lecturer, Visiting Artist Lecture: Sichong Xie, Art Practice, Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’An, China
2018 spring, Instructor, How To Trace Memory, Performance and Drawing Workshop, New Genre Arts Festival, Tulsa, OK
2017 spring, Teaching Assistant, Undergraduate Critique, Harry Gamboa Jr.’s class in Photography and Media Department, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
2016 fall, Teaching Assistant, Artist As Writer, Harry Gamboa Jr.’s class in Photography and Media Department, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
2016 summer, Lecturer, New Genre and Experimental Art, New Media Art Department, Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’An, China
2016 summer, Lecturer, Time Based Media and Interdisciplinary Art, Fine Art Department, Xi’An Ouya College, Xi’An, China
2016 summer, Lecturer, New Genre and Experimental Art, Photography and New Media Department, Xi’An Ligong University, Xi’An, China
PRESENTATIONS, ARTIST TALKS, AND PANELS
03/2023 Artist Lecture on Zoom, Art Department at Smith College + Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, USA
02/2023 Artist Talk and Broadcast on Zoom, Memory Structure, Scaffold Series, Prospect Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
07/2022 Artist Talk, You Can’t Take That Away From Me, Zentrum fur Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin, Germany
11/2021 Panelist, The Arts: Dreaming of a Shared Humanity, Horasis Asia Meeting 2021, Singapore
10/2021 Visiting Artist, Approaches to Making, Parsons School of Art, The New School, New York, NY, USA
12/2020 Artist Talk and Panel Discussion, Art - Past - Present, Wende Museum, Culver City, CA, USA
11/2020 Artist Talk, Durational Performance, The Momentary and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, USA
07/2020 Artist Talk, Durational Performance: A Meditation on Time, The Inverse Summer Residency Laboratory Series, Cuesta College, Los Angeles, CA, USA
06/2020 Artist Talk on Zoom, Contrasting Body and Place, McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Charlotte, NC, USA
05/2020 Visiting Artist, Design Media Arts, MFA Program, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
04/2020 Artist Talk on Zoom, Do Donkeys Know Politics, Scaffold Series I, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
04/2020 Presenter on Zoom, Do Donkeys Know Politics, curated by Danny Greenberg, Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program, New York, NY, USA
02/2020 Artist Talk and Panel Discussion, History, Cultures, Identities, Wende Museum, Culver City, CA, USA
04/2019 Visiting Artist, Integrated Media, Art and Technology MFA Program, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
03/2019 Artist Talk, We Know We Could Go To Jail, The 57th Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
11/2018 Presenter, The Boat Has Sailed, Hasn’t It, invited by Andrew Freeman, Photography and Media, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
08/2018 Guest Speaker, The Boat Has Sailed, Hasn’t It, Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Xi’An Art Conversations, OCAT Art Musuem, Xi’An, China
08/2017 Artist Talk, Walking With The Disappeared, The Watermill Center, Long Island, NY, USA
07/2016 Artist Talk, We Know We Could Go To Jail, The Watermill Center, Long Island, NY, USA
06/2016 Visiting Artist Talk, You Can’t Take That Away From Me, Summer Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’An, China
06/2016 Visiting Artist Talk, You Can’t Take That Away From Me, Visiting Artist Lecture Series, D.P. Art Space, Xi’An, China
07/2015 Panelist, Performance Art, Photography and New Media Department, Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’An, China
PUBLICATIONS
Xie, Sichong. “Lake Lonely“ Page #318-322, The Chengdu International Photography Festival Exhibition Catalog, (2023)
Xie, Sichong. “The Medea Insurrection at the Wende Museum“ Page #60-63, In Carla Magazine, Issue 19, (2020)
Xie, Sichong. “Becoming - Experimental Video Works“, Eli Klein Gallery Exhibition Catalog, (2019)
Xie, Sichong. "The Ship Has Sailed, Hasn’t It?", Self-Published Artist Book, (2018)
Xie, Sichong. "Leaning On", Self-Published Artist Book, (2018)
Xie, Sichong. "Dancing Tables", Page #18-20, The 2nd Changjiang Photo & Video Biennale Exhibition Catalog, (2018)
Xie, Sichong. "Minsheng's Photographs of People's Lives in Hong Kong" Page #36, Picturing Humanism, (2017)
Xie, Sichong. "You Can't Take That Away From Me" Page #28, In Whitefish Review Magazine, Issue "CHANGE", (2016)
EXPERIENCE
Teaching Artist September 2018-August 2022
Armory Center for the Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Studio Production Assistant December 2018-April 2022
Charles Gaines Studio, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Visiting Artist Lecturer July 2018-September 2018
Xi’An Academy of Fine Arts, Xi’An, Shaanxi, China
Artist Studio Assistant October 2017-June 2018
Sharon Lockhart Studio, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Museum Technician November 2017-July 2019
Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City, CA, USA
Graduate Teaching Assistant January 2016-May 2017
Harry Gamboa Jr.'s TA, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
Photography Instructor January 2016-August 2017
CAP, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA, USA