Gao Xiaowu was born in Fujian Province, China in 1976, and graduated from Xia Men Art Academy majored in sculpture in 1999. He graduated from the sculpture department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2004.Master of Film Business and Management at the Catalan School of Film and Audiovisual Studies (ESCAC), Spain. And he lives and works in Beijing ever since.
His artistic notion is "the moment that is". He practiced a kind of "popular art", believing that art belongs to the common people. Gao Xiaowu's works mostly reveal metaphorical and non-extreme rational thinking in a humorous, gentle and non-hostile way, expressing his concern, criticism and reflection on society. His early works include such series as Standard Age, City Dreams, Our Generation, Soft Violence and Discrepancy. His recent series of works, such as the Rebirth and the Shared Environment, focus on “everyday” phenomena, in which the artist invites the public with an equal mindset, “to awake the primitive nature through rebirth”, and “human beings and nature coexist in harmony”. He uses a variety of ingenious creative means from the heart, and communicates with the public in a flexible and individualized way, trying to maximize the effectiveness of art in society.
Gao Xiaowu's work has been selected for the 9th National Art Exhibition (China, 1999), and he was awarded the Hurun Special Contribution for Art 2014. He was the Cultural Ambassadors of the inaugural Chinese Culture Week (CCW) in Singapore, and awarded the Influential People Award at the Awards Spring 2020, organized by the Trends Home Magazine and the Design Spring. He awarded the Robb Report China's the Artists in 2017 and the Trends Home Magazine's 2019 Man of the Year and 2021 Pioneer of the Year.
His works are collected by many Chinese and international art institutions, public space and private collectors. Some of the organizations and celebrities include: MoMA (New York), The White Rabbit Art Foundation (Sydney), The Ekaterina Culture Foundation; Beijing Parkview Green, K11 (Shanghai), Tencent Group, Senyar Group, Lilanz Group, Proya Group, Hong Kong Plaza (Shanghai); the president of Goldman Sachs Investment Bank, the president of PricewaterhouseCoopers, former Ambassador of Switzerland to China, and so on.
Awards: Works selected for the Ninth National Art Exhibition (1999)
Hurun Special Contribution Award for Contemporary Art (2014),
Singapore First International Chinese Culture Week Culture and Arts Ambassador (2016),
The Robb Report Artist of the Year 2017
"Fashion Home" 2019 Person of the Year,
2021 Pioneer of the Year，etc.