Kong Shengqi
Kong Shengqi’s works, carved in wood, soft and clear, bring out of the material fantastic and organic creatures, with round faces and naive features, sometimes almost childish and sometimes terrifying.
Her obvious love for the material that is wood and her way of sculpting particularly evokes the arts of the natives of North America, which can be found in Alaska or on the Inuit lands of Canada.
Works
TRUFFE DE CHINE
Lava dog n°3
Pantomime horse
Volcan
Bilboquet effraie I
Bilboquet effraie II
Biography
Young Chinese artist born in Beijing in 1989, Kong Shengqi chose to settle in France in 2015 after studying architecture in China. She initially followed a second cycle “space design option” at the Institute of Arts in Toulouse before entering École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she obtained a DNSAP with the congratulations of the jury in 2018 and will be part of the admissions jury for the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris the following year. She is also the laureate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris x Altarea project in 2020 and the Beaux-Arts de Paris x Moët Hennessy project, and the Prix Gide – Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2021. She currently lives and works in Paris.
Young Chinese artist born in Beijing in 1989, Kong Shengqi chose to settle in France in 2015 after studying architecture in China. She initially followed a second cycle “space design option” at the Institute of Arts in Toulouse before entering École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she obtained a DNSAP with the congratulations of the jury in 2018 and will be part of the admissions jury for the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris the following year. She is also the laureate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris x Altarea project in 2020 and the Beaux-Arts de Paris x Moët Hennessy project, and the Prix Gide – Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2021. She currently lives and works in Paris.
Kong Shengqi’s works, carved in wood, soft and clear, bring out of the material fantastic and organic creatures, with round faces and naive features, sometimes almost childish and sometimes terrifying.
Her obvious love for the material that is wood and her way of sculpting particularly evokes the arts of the natives of North America, which can be found in Alaska or on the Inuit lands of Canada.
In the “project” report dedicated to her last exhibition, Margaux Brugvin specifies that her sculptures “are thought to be used in forms of invented rituals. One looks through the cavity of a screaming face to discover the slits of two eyes on the other side of the sculpture. For the latter, Kong Shengqi’s sculptures evoke sacred objects, human or animal deities on which the visitor is free to project their own references and interpretations and come to explore “their childhood fascinations and terrors, the mystery of what happens inside bodies, inside every living being, the biological or mystical forces that govern every entity and make up our world of which we do not understand that so few things. »
Exhibitions
Videos
Vidéo
Monumental • Jardin de sculptures
Career
Solo Exhibitions
2024 – Thérapie de fantaisie, in resonance with the 17th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, Hotel Dieu Museum, Belleville-en-Beaujolais, France
2023 – Snake in the Grass, Line of Dust, Tobichi Art Museum, Nagano, Japan
2021 – Abracadabois, Yishu 8 – Chez Tante Martine, Paris, France
Solo Exhibitions
2024 – Thérapie de fantaisie, in resonance with the 17th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, Hotel Dieu Museum, Belleville-en-Beaujolais, France
2023 – Snake in the Grass, Line of Dust, Tobichi Art Museum, Nagano, Japan
2021 – Abracadabois, Yishu 8 – Chez Tante Martine, Paris, France
2021 – Théâtre d’été, Residency exhibition, Musée Bernard Boesch, Le Pouliguen, France
2018 – L’éviscération, La Chapelle de the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
2017 – La peau de la prémonition, Café Héloïse, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
Group Exhibitions
2025 – Monumental – Jardin de sculptures, Galerie Loft, Fourges, France
2025 – Chère Melpomène, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
2025 – There is a mountain inside the body, Galerie Taloté, Vannes, France
2024 – Trame, Nouvel Institut Franco-Chinois, Lyon, France
2024 – MOI & LES AUTRES, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
2024 – 19th Biennale of Contemporary Art of Champigny, Champigny-sur-Marne, France
2023 – Here, by coincidence, Tobichi Art Museum, Tatsuno, Japan
2023 – wood·wood·wooden, Galerie Jousse Entreprise, Paris, France
2023 – Pièce des vagues, Design Parade, Villa Noailles, Toulon, France
2022 – Émergences.fr, Bozar – Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
2022 – PARADE, Le PRéàVIE, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
2022 – Corps & Âmes, Galerie LOFT, Paris, France
2022 – -196 °C, Le PRéàVIE, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
2022 – Elle(s), Galerie Loft, Paris, France
2021 – Parade Petites bouchées Movement La mer, La Maison Fraternelle, Paris, France
2021 – Figures, Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
2021 – Et vous dansez sans le savoir, public outdoor exhibition, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
2021 – Avec ma faim de loup, Le PRéàVIE, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
2021 – 100% l’EXPO, Grande Halle de La Villette, Paris, France
2021 – Vivez Joyeux, Le PRÉÀVIE, Pré-Saint-Gervais, France
2020 – Combination, Villa Kultur Danmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
2020 – Théâtre anatomique, Galerie Loft, Paris, France
2019 – FELICITÀ, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris
2019 – Finale, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
2016 – LabBooks – ed. 2016, Les Abattoirs Media Library, Toulouse, France
Residencies & Workshops
2025–2026 – Casa de Velázquez, Spain
2024 – Vent des Forêts, Meuse, France
2023 – Tobichi Art Museum, Nagano, Japan
2022 – Association ART 8, Paris, France
2021 – Artist-in-residence, Association ART 8, Paris
2021 – Artist-in-residence, Musée Bernard Boesch, Le Pouliguen
2017 – Woodcut and Printmaking Masterclass, Gutenberg Arts, Danmarks Tekniske Museum, Elsinore
2016 – Endeavor, le basculement with Niels Trannois, isdaT, Toulouse
2015 – RE – Emprunt, remix et rééditing dans les arts actuels with Joanne Leighton, isdaT & Les Abattoirs, Toulouse
2011 – Renouveau du quartier résidentiel de Akabane, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
2011 – Horizontal Town in Seoul, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea
2010 – Wood Structure, Universität Stuttgart & CAFA, Beijing, China
2009 – Crossing Now – Dialogues for Emergency Architecture, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
Public Commissions
2024 – Topinambours Troubadours, site-specific sculptures, Vent des Forêts, Meuse, France
Awards & Grants
2025 – Encouragement Prize in Sculpture, Académie des Beaux-Arts, France
2021 – Laureate, Beaux-Arts de Paris x Moët Hennessy
2021 – Laureate, Prix Gide – Beaux-Arts de Paris
2021 – Nominee, Friends of Beaux-Arts de Paris Grant
2020 – Laureate, Beaux-Arts de Paris x Altarea
2019 – Admissions Jury Member, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris
Education
2018 – DNSAP with highest honors, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris
2015–2016 – Master’s Cycle (Space Design), Institut supérieur des arts de Toulouse
2012–2014 – Architect, Approach Architecture Studio
2012 – Curatorial Assistant to Sébastien Léon Agneessens, UC
News
At the end of this year, we had the honor of attending the Academy of Fine Arts ceremony and witnessing the sculpture prize awarded to Shengqi Kong, whom we have supported since 2021. The sculptor is currently in residence at the Casa de Velázquez. Congratulations to Shengqi Kong.
Congratulations to Shengqi Kong, who is one of the laureates of the Casa de Velazquez Residency from September 2025 to July 2026. From September to July, the Académie de France in Madrid (AFM) will host three French or foreign artists in residence, recruited after a selection process, the final stage of which takes place at … <a href="https://preprod.galerieloft.com/en/artists/kong-shengqi/">Continued</a>
Discover Shengqi Kong's sculptures in the exhibition "Dear Melpomene" at the Palais des Beaux-Arts. The exhibition interweaves around a hundred works from the collections, by students and studio heads, and international artists, presenting a transhistorical display spanning the period from the late 17th century to the present day. Most have never been exhibited before—recently acquired by the School or produced specifically for the exhibition—while others have not yet circulated within the institutional community.
