Ming Lu’s works include photography, installation, performance, and more traditional media – porcelain and embroidery. Her recent works play on the tension between contemporary art and traditional Chinese craftsmanship. As Made-in-China mass production became a global industrial phenomenon, the artist works closely with the handicraft that is known to be slow, inaccurate, time and labor consuming, almost forgotten but are deep-rooted. Humorously employing symbols and figures from myths, legends, prehistorical culture, and from her own biography alike, Ming Lu’s works reflect her cultural identity, which combines enduring attachments to China, the country of her birth, and to Europe, where she studied art.

Another focal point in Lu’s works is femininity. While the artist’s embroideries feature a cast of female characters recreated from historical myths, the artist uses many ordinary objects in her sculptural works, such as cosmetics (notably lipstick and facial masks), lingerie, hair extensions, and transforms them into anthropomorphic playful representations of the female body and the female experience. This metaphorical and deadpan use of everyday objects to speak of important issues is a typical approach of the artist, her works often veer between abstraction and literalness; between the familiar and the uncanny; between absurdity and gravity.

Biography

Born 1993 in China.

Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

 

 

Education

2018

Royal College of Art, London, UK.

2016

London College of Communication, London, UK.

 

 

Collection

Artothek – Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin

Solo Exhibitions

2023 Alter Charme – Neues Gewand. Galerie Olymp, Berlin, Germany.

2022 Ming Lu. Haze Gallery, Berlin, Germany.

2021 Tigress, Tigress. BBA Gallery, Berlin, Germany.

2020 Take Place. Bark Berlin, Germany.

2019 Take Place, 210 artists in a white cube. Institut für Alles Mögliche. Berlin, Germany.

2018 Pussy. SomoS Gallery, Berlin, Germany.

 

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024 Recycling Narratives. Kunstquartier Bethanien. 2024. Berlin, Germany.

2023 – 2024 Fernweh. Mewo Kunsthalle. 2023-24. Memmingen, Germany.

2023 – 2024 4th Lativia Ceramic Biennale. Rothko Museum. Daugavpilsm Latvia.

2023 Folklor. National Agriculture Museum. Ostrava, Czech Republic.

2022 BBA Editions.  BBA Gallery Berlin, Germany

2022 Summer Art Showroom.  Haze Gallery Berlin, Germany

2021 Eine Jugend von heute für die Zukunft Europas. Centre Francais de Berlin. Berlin, Germany

2021 Kultursalon.Forum Factory. Berlin, Germany.

2021 Small Works. LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum. Berlin, Germany.

2021 Fetish.The Ballery. Berlin, Germany.

2021 BBA Artist Prize Group Exhibition. Kühlhaus. Berlin, Germany.

2021 New Currents. BBA Gallery. Berlin, Germany.

2020 König Open Call Group Show. König Galerie. London, UK

2020 BBA Artist Prize. BBA Gallery. Berlin, Germany

2020 Sunny Art Prize Group Show. Sunny Art Centre. London, UK.

2019 The Female Gaze. Theatre Deli. London, UK

2018 Postgraduate Show. Royal College of Art, London, UK

2018 Night Visions. Museum of London, UK

2018 Dangxia. Chelsea College of Art, London, UK

2017  Acropolis. VR Days Europe, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2017 Acropolis. Royal College of Art, London, UK

2017 WIP show. Royal College of Art, London, UK

2016 90 degrees. London College of Communication, London, UK

 

 

Prizes

BBA Artist Prize. Winner, 2020. BBA Gallery, Berlin, Germany.

Sunny Art Prize. Shortlisted, 2020. Sunny Art Center, London, UK.

The Prix de la Photographie. Bronze Prize, 2018. Paris, France.

 

 

Residencies

Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany. Oct – Dec 2019.

SomoS Gallery, Berlin, Germany. Oct-Dec 2018.

 

 

Art Fairs

Affordable Art Fair, Nov 9 – 12, Hamburg, Germany.

Art Market Budapest, Oct 6 -9, Budapest, Hungary.

Stroke, May 19 – 22, Munich, Germany.

Discovery Art Fair, Apr 28 – May 1, 2022, Cologne, Germany.

Start Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, Sep 25-29, 2019. London, UK.

Start Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, Sep 13-16, 2018. London, UK.

The Other Art Fair, The Passenger Shed, July 26-29, 2018. Bristol, UK.

 

 

Press

Allgäu Tv, 2023.

Memminger Zeitung, 2023.

Chayka Lv, 2023.

Purplehaze magazine, 2022.

Colossal magazine, 2021.

Aesthetica magazine, February/March issue 2018.