Chen Zhen (artist)

Chen Zhen (Chinese: 陈箴; 1955 – 13 December 2000) was a Chinese-French conceptual artist known for his large-scale sculptures and installations such as La Danse de la fontaine émergente in Paris. He is recognized as one of the most important Chinese artists since the 1990s.

Born in Shanghai and educated in Shanghai and Paris, Chen suffered from autoimmune hemolytic anemia and died at age 45. He was the brother of Chen Zhu, a vice chairman of the National People's Congress of China.

Chen Zhen was born in 1955 to a family of doctors in Shanghai, China. He grew up in the former Shanghai French Concession during the tumultuous decade of the Cultural Revolution. He studied at Shanghai Fine Arts and Crafts School, and later at Shanghai Drama Institute (now Shanghai Theatre Academy), specializing in stage design. In 1982 he became a professor at Shanghai Drama Institute.

When he was 25, Chen was diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia and was told he might have only five years to live. As China loosened travel restrictions in the 1980s, he left Shanghai in 1986 for Paris, France, where he studied art at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and the Institut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques (IHEAP). He supported himself by drawing portraits on the street. From 1993 to 1995 Chen was a professor at IHEAP in Paris, and from 1995 to 1999 he taught at the École nationale des beaux-arts in Nancy.

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