An independent artist between France and China
Gao Bo lives and works between Beijing and Paris. In 2017-2018 he is a guest teacher at FRESNOY Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France. He graduated from the Lycée Affilié à l’Académie des Beaux-Arts du Sichuan in 1983 and from Tsinghua University’s Academy of Arts and Design in 1987. In 1990, he moved to France and worked with Agence VU and Galerie VU. He founded the BoARCHI architecture studio in 2002 and worked as an architectural designer until 2009.
He has won numerous awards:
- first prize (Hasselblad camera) in a national photography competition in China in 1986
- Gold Award at the VISA pour l’image International Photography Festival, Perpignan, 1989
- the “Most beautiful book in the world” award
- and the German UNESCO-Kommission Prize in 1998
His work has appeared in exhibitions in China, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, Brazil, England, Japan and South Korea. They can be found in museums, art institutions and private collectors all over the world.
The inventor of Laostime
Gao Bo initiated “laostism”, a philosophical and aesthetic concept that permeates his total works of art. “Laostisme” and “laostiste” derive from lost and loser in English and lao tse in spoken Chinese meaning “me”. The Chinese translation of lost is luosi, meaning “naked thought”. For the past 30 years, his work has involved a comprehensive practice combining photography, photographic installations, mixed media and performance.
An open-minded approach to the world’s cultural riches
In 2017, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris organized his retrospective exhibition “Gao Bo: Les Offrandes”. On this occasion, six international publishers published eight catalogs of his work. In addition, two films focusing on the life and art of Gao Bo are also being shown at the MEP during the exhibition:
- “Gao Bo: Between Beijing and Paris”, directed by Wu Wenguang, director of “Bumming in Beijing”.
- “Gao Bo: In the Dark of History”, directed by the renowned French director, author and photographer Alain Fleischer.
Currently based in France, Gao Bo has settled in Vernon, Normandy. Here, he has transformed a former toy factory into a contemporary art space, called the “Pavillon des Jouets”. The space hosts artist residencies, exhibitions and cultural events open to the public. Gao Bo ‘s workshop is a unique combination of industrial aesthetics and traditional Chinese elements. Lacquered furniture and antique statues, for example, create a hybrid space between cultures and eras.