Exhibited Work
To celebrate the opening of Dior Beijing Maison at Taikoo Li Sanlitun, the new flagship has been conceived not only as a retail destination but also as an art space, honouring the close friendships between Christian Dior and the artists of his era through the presentation of significant contemporary artworks. Xu Zhen’s work Under Heaven – 280IN2323 is featured as part of this presentation.
First introduced in 2011, Xu Zhen’s Under Heaven series has become one of the most recognisable bodies of work in his practice. Created by extruding oil paint through pastry piping bags using the techniques of cake decoration, these paintings retain the luscious, seductive qualities of real frosting while, through their dense visual accumulation and exaggerated scale, producing landscapes that are simultaneously artificial, hypnotic, and illusionistic.
Beneath the work’s authoritative title, Under Heaven reflects the exuberance of globalised hedonism. Amid the dense swirls of frosting that dazzle the eye and stimulate the senses, the series reveals a subtle interplay between material and support, deftly integrating questions of layering and spatial construction into both painting and action.
Whether understood as a world made of frosting or frosting in the form of “all under heaven,” the series faithfully embodies a reality defined by pleasure, excess, and sensuality. With a distinctly optimistic spirit, Under Heaven gives form to a contemporary condition that is at once seductive, ecstatic, and profoundly hedonistic.
About the Artist: Xu Zhen
Xu Zhen (b. 1977, Shanghai, China) is an artist and curator who lives and works in Shanghai. Widely recognised as one of the defining figures of Chinese contemporary art, he received the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) for Best Artist in 2004 and participated, as one of the youngest Chinese artists, in the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001. His multidisciplinary practice spans installation, photography, video, and performance.
Xu’s work has been exhibited at major museums and international biennials worldwide, including the Venice Biennale (2001, 2005); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2004); the International Center of Photography, New York (2004); the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2005); MoMA PS1, New York (2006); Tate Liverpool (2007); Hayward Gallery, London (2012); the Lyon Biennale (2013); The Armory Show, New York (2014); Long Museum, Shanghai (2015); Al Riwaq Art Space, Doha (2016); the 20th Biennale of Sydney (2016); the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2017); the Sharjah Biennial (2019); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) (2019); and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2020), among many others.
Beyond his artistic practice, Xu Zhen is also an influential curator and cultural organiser. In 1998, he served as Artistic Director of BizArt, Shanghai’s first independent non-profit art organisation. In 2006, together with fellow Shanghai artists, he co-founded Art-Ba-Ba, an online community that has become one of China’s most active platforms for the discussion and criticism of contemporary art. In 2009, he established MadeIn Company, an art production company dedicated to generating artistic creativity and exploring the limitless possibilities of contemporary culture. In 2013, MadeIn Company launched Xu Zhen®, a brand focused on artistic production and new cultural research. This was followed by the establishment of MadeIn Gallery in 2014, dedicated to representing artists and advancing contemporary culture; MadeIn Museum in 2022; and the contemporary art platform DONG in 2025.
About Dior Beijing Maison
Dior Beijing Maison is the largest flagship boutique the House has established in China to date. Following the opening of Dior Maison Seoul in 2015 and Dior Maison Geneva in 2024, the Beijing Maison marks the latest chapter in this architectural series. Designed by internationally renowned architect Christian de Portzamparc, the building embodies exceptional craftsmanship while seamlessly uniting Dior’s signature elegance with a contemporary architectural language.