Ma Kelu

Place: Shanghai

Born: 1954

Biography:

Ma Kelu is a Chinese painter born in Shanghai in 1954. He first gained prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a member of a circle of largely self-taught, underground artists based in Beijing, who worked in direct opposition to the Chinese government's official sponsorship of Socialist Realism. After the crackdown against Avant-garde artists during the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign in 1986, he began to exhibit his paintings in galleries in Berlin, New York, Boston, London, and Vancouver. In 2006, Kelu's work was featured in Beijing, curated by internationally renowned Chinese art historian and critic, Gao Minglu. Kelu's work has been exhibited at the Yuan Center of Art in Beijing, a leading exhibitor of contemporary Chinese art.