Yao Jianjun (Gu Tian): A Visionary’s Path from Jiangxi to Shenzhen’s Artistic Heights – Celebrating a Diverse and Acclaimed Artistic Journey

Yao Jianjun (Gu Tian), born in October 1970 in Shuangtang Village, Yongfeng County, Jiangxi, embarked on an artistic odyssey that led him from being a high school art teacher in Jiangxi to a celebrated figure in the Shenzhen art scene after immigrating there in 1995. His work ‘Childhood’ won an award at the ‘Second Jiangxi Province Teachers’ Art Exhibition’, and ‘Entering the City’ was featured in the ‘Jiangxi Province Primary School Art Textbook’. Yao’s creations have been published in magazines such as ‘Jiangxi Pictorial’ and ‘Creation and Criticism’.

After initially engaging in graphic design upon his arrival in Shenzhen and serving as a committee member of the Shenzhen Packaging Design Commission, Yao steadfastly continued his art creation. He is an executive director of the Shenzhen University Art Research Association and a member of the World Chinese Artists Association, participating in numerous exhibitions including the ‘Cross-Strait Celebrity Calligraphy and Painting Invitation Exhibition’, ‘Wireless Cattle – Shenzhen Contemporary Art Annual Exhibition’, ‘May Fourth Special Zone – Shenzhen Local Youth Art Exhibition’, and the ‘World Chinese Artists Association Collection Exhibition’, along with the first and second ‘Shenzhen Contemporary Art Exhibitions’.

Yao has held three solo exhibitions and has been a significant part of the ‘Dafen Artists Six-Person Exhibition’, ‘Longgang Local Oil Painting Joint Exhibition’, and the ‘Dafen International Contemporary Art Exhibition’. His works are extensively collected by galleries and friends both in China and abroad, marking him as a distinguished figure in the contemporary art world