Opening time：2026.4.14
Duration: 2026.04.14 -- 2026.06.01
Location: Today Art Museum Hall 2, No.32 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing

“Surrealism” was first introduced to China in the 1930s and then quietly took root in the soil of Chinese art. It was not until the 1980s, however, that it more visibly permeated the trajectories of Chinese contemporary art. Today, “Surrealism” has long gone beyond the confines of stylistic categorization, while it can no longer be simply equated with the avant-garde, it continues—through its departure from rationalism and its disruption of everyday logic—to shape the painting practices of a new generation of artists.

In the present context, “New Surrealist” painting in China reflects contemporary concerns and anxiety emerging amid economic fluctuations, environmental crises, shifting social discourses, information overload, and rapid advances in AI-driven digital technologies. At the same time, surrealist modes of creation and pictorial language enable artists to move beyond the constraints of both reality and stylistic orthodoxy, opening up freer forms of expression. It is through such practices, in turn, that Surrealism itself continues to exert a sustained influence within an increasingly complex and multidimensional field of Chinese contemporary painting.

Reality, Surreality: Major Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Painting, held at Today Art Museum, marks the second stop of its touring iteration following its presentation at Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning. This exhibition seeks to trace and present the open-ended experimentation in surrealist pictorial language from the late twentieth century to the present, encompassing artists born in the 1980s and 1990s. Such an approach constitutes the primary basis for the selection of artists and works included in this exhibition.

Lü Peng

Bi Jianye, Cang Xin, Chen Xi, Chen Yanhui, Ding Fang, Deng Jianjin, Fan Bo, Fu Meijun, Ge Yan, He Dan, He Gong, Jinye, Li Dafang, Li Luming, Li Qing, Li Yongzheng, Lin Wen, Liu Chunliu, Liu Xintao, Liu Yan, Meng Huang, Meng Luding, Meng Site, Mao Xuhui, Qiao Xiangwei, Qin Qi, Qi Wenzhang, Ren Rong, Shen Dapeng, Shen Muyang, Shen Qin, Tamen + (Lai Shengyu & Yang Xiaogang), Wang Cong, Wang Mai, Wei Guangqing, Xiong Tao, Xu Dawei, Xu Lei, Xu Yihui, Xin Haizhou, Yang Mian, Yi Chengtao, Zhai Liang, Zhang Ben, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhang Xiaotao, Zhang Zhaoying, Zhong Biao, Zhou Song, Zhou Zhangke, Zheng Zicheng