About Fion Gunn

FION GUNN                                                                                                                             ARTIST’S BIOGRAPHY & CV

Fion Gunn graduated from Crawford College of Art & Design, Ireland in and spent a post-graduate year at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts Supérieure de Nancy, France where she lived for four years, she now lives and works in London. She is the first Irish artist to have a public sculpture commission in China for the city of Zhangjiakou, in 2012. She is represented by Peking Art Associates in Beijing and collaborates with Art W in the USA. She is an associate at Tate Exchange Liverpool with whom she realised a multimedia project funded by Arts Council England last year. She is working with the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool on a number of projects for 2021.

Gunn’s diverse practice comprises 2D, 3D, VR, film, installation, performance, curatorial and community projects. These can be viewed at http://www.fiongunn.org/ where her full CV is also available as well as on YouTube. Her work features in private & corporate and state collections in UK, France, Poland, Ireland, USA & China.

Gunn has won multiple awards for her work from Arts Council England, Arts Council Ireland, Culture Ireland, City Councils of London, Dublin, Cork & Belfast, Irish Literature Exchange and Walcot Foundation. She founded Streatham Women’s Sewing Group CIC and chaired the group 2009-15, working collaboratively with the group as lead artist. The Group comprised women from the Somali & Horn of Africa Community in Streatham as well as Asian, North African, Refugee and low-income communities and its purpose was to reskill, promote inclusion and well-being through arts & crafts.

Artist’s Residencies : Tate Exchange Liverpool, 2019, Baltic Art Center Poland 2014, RedGate Gallery Residency Programme Beijing 2005,  

She was granted access to the archives of the Museum Historyczyne Miasta Gdansk for an ongoing series of work ‘Displaced’ informed by the post WW2 images of Gdansk.

Gunn was guest editor for the 2015 Spring Edition of ArtZip Contemporary Art Magazine (bilingual English/Chinese) writing on the theme of the artist as curator. She works with a wide network of international artists and has led panel discussions with high profile practitioners such as Shirin Neshat at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center, Oct 2015.

Gunn has exhibited at numerous galleries in Europe and China – many of her projects are based in Beijing and Shanghai where she has also curated major exhibitions of Irish & Chinese contemporary art in an annual project called IRISH WAVE (2009-2016).  https://www.facebook.com/pages/IRISH-WAVE/

Her work features in private & corporate collections in UK, France, Poland, Ireland & China including Ministry of Justice, Ireland, Atkins Chambers and CBX, UK, Baltic Contemporary Gallery, Poland, Rosewood Residencies – Guangzhou, MAHA Beijing, Art W Foundation & CAPA (Center for Asian Pacific Affairs), USA.

Selected Exhibitions

2020

– Aurelia Arts Festival, (online), September 2020

-Local Midsummer Arts Trail, 21 June, Stanthorpe Triangle, London

– Micro Solo Show ‘One Day at a Time’, 5-18 May in my front garden, Streatham, London

– ‘Tip Off’, On Paper Supreme touring exhibition 2020, curated by Chang Feng, Qingdao & Shenyang China

2019

Solo Show at Candid Arts Trust, Angel, London

– Odyssey: Explorations – The Digital Journey showcased at Tate Liverpool and Open Eye Gallery Liverpool

– Odyssey: ExplorationsInteractiveExhibition in Tate Exchange Liverpool

– Odyssey: The Return, Dong Yue Art Museum, Beijing

2018

Odyssey: Expedition – ASC Studios Space, London

– Artnight 2018:  Odyssey-The Journey Home, group show, The Workshop, London (featured artist and curator)

On Paper Supreme touring exhibition curated by Chang Fang, Shenyang & Qingdao, China

Excavations, group show, Enjoy Museum, 798, Beijing (featured artist and curator)

– Solo Show Age of Exploration, He Gallery, Beijing

2017

– On Paper Supreme touring exhibition, Center for Contemporary Art, Guangzhou , Ordos Center for Art  & Culture, Ordos, Inner Mongolia

– Views from Distant Shores’ 3 person show, South London Refugee Centre, London (featured artist and curator)

2016

Female Artists Nominations, group exhibition, Da Yun Tang Art Museum, Beijing

The Painted Thread, Yue Pavilion, 3 person show, Beijing

Intimate Transgressions, international touring exhibition, (2015-16) Whitebox, NYC, InterArt Gallery, 798 Beijing, Hangzhou Library, Hangzhou, China and Chiang Kai Shek Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (featured artist and lead curator)

Birth of a Nation, Ning Gallery 798 and Identity, EARC Space 798, Beijing (featured artist and lead curator)

Struggle, Sanwei Art Center, Shanghai (featured artist and lead curator)

2009-16

IRISH WAVE, featured artist/lead curator for annual series of Irish/Chinese collaborative group exhibitions in Beijing & Shanghai at 798, M50, National Center for the Performing Arts and a wide variety of other public venues (total of 33 shows)

2015  

– Intimate Transgressions, international touring exhibition highlighting war and genocide rape, Whitebox, NY and Inter Gallery, 798,Beijing  (featured artist and lead curator) 

– Hohhot Biennial, University of Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia

-‘Sailing to Byzantium’, artist/curator, Leyden Gallery, London

-‘Memoire Traumatique’ curated  by Philippe Frydman  at ‘Au Medicis’ Gallery, Paris, France

2014-15

-‘The Dress My Mother Wore’ installation, Lead artist in collaboration with Streatham Women’s Sewing Group CIC, at Streatham Festival, Museum of Childhood, Southbank Centre and Horniman Museum, London (ACE)

-‘Timeline Tourist’, Solo Show at Baltic Arts Center – Witches’ Tower, Slupsk, Poland

Websites: http://www.fiongunn.org/   http://www.odysseyexplorations.com  

FILMS & Digital Artworks on YouTube: 

2020 One Day at a Time, micro exhibition  https://youtu.be/030X2yQI–k

2020 Plant More Trees! https://youtu.be/Zf1OoTkoaMs

2020 Child of our Time   https://youtu.be/qyY_08RH3Ig

2019 Odyssey: Explorations – sketch for the new artwork https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zn4cKu8SrE

2019 Shorelines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVvBJyi59p8

2019 Odyssey: The Return – Huang Du’s Speech  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIQmSc7trwk&t=24s

2018 Age of Explorations – solo exhibition  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byrPxGQz7h4&t=8s
2018 Excavations Exhibition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJWtKMelca8&t=3s

2018 Age of Exploration: Spice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn-cqOih4ng&t=18s
2017 Writing in Water  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYox7h1YnHQ
2016 We’re All in the Same Boat www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCBzJoLScE
2015INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS Project– www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8q0bD1QxtU&t=349s
 documentary film by filmmaker Jane Clegg 
2015  Sinovision Coverage of INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS  www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf2pebv7dfk


The Dress My Mother Wore  https://youtu.be/kr4W6IhL3oc


Film of the Panel Discussion hosted by the ELIZABETH A. SACKLER CENTER FOR FEMINIST ART
INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS: THE ACT OF DOING 
Panel discussion moderated by Fion Gunn & Anita Glesta with panelists Shirin Neshat, Luisa Valenzuela, Eleanor Heartney https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/video/videos/intimate-transgressions-the-act-of-doing

Fion Gunn graduated from Crawford College of Art & Design, Ireland in and spent a post-graduate year at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts Supérieure de Nancy, France where she lived for four years, she now lives and works in London. She is the first Irish artist to have a public sculpture commission in China for the city of Zhangjiakou, in 2012. She is represented by Peking Art Associates in Beijing and collaborates with Art W in the USA. She is an associate at Tate Exchange Liverpool with whom she realised a multimedia project funded by Arts Council England last year. She is working with the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool on a number of projects for 2021.

Gunn’s diverse practice comprises 2D, 3D, VR, film, installation, performance, curatorial and community projects. These can be viewed at http://www.fiongunn.org/ where her full CV is also available as well as on YouTube. Her work features in private & corporate and state collections in UK, France, Poland, Ireland, USA & China.

Gunn has won multiple awards for her work from Arts Council England, Arts Council Ireland, Culture Ireland, City Councils of London, Dublin, Cork & Belfast, Irish Literature Exchange and Walcot Foundation. She founded Streatham Women’s Sewing Group CIC and chaired the group 2009-15, working collaboratively with the group as lead artist. The Group comprised women from the Somali & Horn of Africa Community in Streatham as well as Asian, North African, Refugee and low-income communities and its purpose was to reskill, promote inclusion and well-being through arts & crafts.

Artist’s Residencies : Tate Exchange Liverpool, 2019, Baltic Art Center Poland 2014, RedGate Gallery Residency Programme Beijing 2005,  

She was granted access to the archives of the Museum Historyczyne Miasta Gdansk for an ongoing series of work ‘Displaced’ informed by the post WW2 images of Gdansk.

Gunn was guest editor for the 2015 Spring Edition of ArtZip Contemporary Art Magazine (bilingual English/Chinese) writing on the theme of the artist as curator. She works with a wide network of international artists and has led panel discussions with high profile practitioners such as Shirin Neshat at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center, Oct 2015.

Gunn has exhibited at numerous galleries in Europe and China – many of her projects are based in Beijing and Shanghai where she has also curated major exhibitions of Irish & Chinese contemporary art in an annual project called IRISH WAVE (2009-2016).  https://www.facebook.com/pages/IRISH-WAVE/

Her work features in private & corporate collections in UK, France, Poland, Ireland & China including Ministry of Justice, Ireland, Atkins Chambers and CBX, UK, Baltic Contemporary Gallery, Poland, Rosewood Residencies – Guangzhou, MAHA Beijing, Art W Foundation & CAPA (Center for Asian Pacific Affairs), USA.

Selected Exhibitions

2020

– Aurelia Arts Festival, (online), September 2020

-Local Midsummer Arts Trail, 21 June, Stanthorpe Triangle, London

– Micro Solo Show ‘One Day at a Time’, 5-18 May in my front garden, Streatham, London

– ‘Tip Off’, On Paper Supreme touring exhibition 2020, curated by Chang Feng, Qingdao & Shenyang China

2019

Solo Show at Candid Arts Trust, Angel, London

– Odyssey: Explorations – The Digital Journey showcased at Tate Liverpool and Open Eye Gallery Liverpool

– Odyssey: ExplorationsInteractiveExhibition in Tate Exchange Liverpool

– Odyssey: The Return, Dong Yue Art Museum, Beijing

2018

Odyssey: Expedition – ASC Studios Space, London

– Artnight 2018:  Odyssey-The Journey Home, group show, The Workshop, London (featured artist and curator)

On Paper Supreme touring exhibition curated by Chang Fang, Shenyang & Qingdao, China

Excavations, group show, Enjoy Museum, 798, Beijing (featured artist and curator)

– Solo Show Age of Exploration, He Gallery, Beijing

2017

– On Paper Supreme touring exhibition, Center for Contemporary Art, Guangzhou , Ordos Center for Art  & Culture, Ordos, Inner Mongolia

– Views from Distant Shores’ 3 person show, South London Refugee Centre, London (featured artist and curator)

2016

Female Artists Nominations, group exhibition, Da Yun Tang Art Museum, Beijing

The Painted Thread, Yue Pavilion, 3 person show, Beijing

Intimate Transgressions, international touring exhibition, (2015-16) Whitebox, NYC, InterArt Gallery, 798 Beijing, Hangzhou Library, Hangzhou, China and Chiang Kai Shek Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (featured artist and lead curator)

Birth of a Nation, Ning Gallery 798 and Identity, EARC Space 798, Beijing (featured artist and lead curator)

Struggle, Sanwei Art Center, Shanghai (featured artist and lead curator)

2009-16

IRISH WAVE, featured artist/lead curator for annual series of Irish/Chinese collaborative group exhibitions in Beijing & Shanghai at 798, M50, National Center for the Performing Arts and a wide variety of other public venues (total of 33 shows)

2015  

– Intimate Transgressions, international touring exhibition highlighting war and genocide rape, Whitebox, NY and Inter Gallery, 798,Beijing  (featured artist and lead curator) 

– Hohhot Biennial, University of Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia

-‘Sailing to Byzantium’, artist/curator, Leyden Gallery, London

-‘Memoire Traumatique’ curated  by Philippe Frydman  at ‘Au Medicis’ Gallery, Paris, France

2014-15

-‘The Dress My Mother Wore’ installation, Lead artist in collaboration with Streatham Women’s Sewing Group CIC, at Streatham Festival, Museum of Childhood, Southbank Centre and Horniman Museum, London (ACE)

-‘Timeline Tourist’, Solo Show at Baltic Arts Center – Witches’ Tower, Slupsk, Poland

Websites: http://www.fiongunn.org/   http://www.odysseyexplorations.com  

FILMS & Digital Artworks on YouTube: 

2020 One Day at a Time, micro exhibition  https://youtu.be/030X2yQI–k

2020 Plant More Trees! https://youtu.be/Zf1OoTkoaMs

2020 Child of our Time   https://youtu.be/qyY_08RH3Ig

2019 Odyssey: Explorations – sketch for the new artwork https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zn4cKu8SrE

2019 Shorelines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVvBJyi59p8

2019 Odyssey: The Return – Huang Du’s Speech  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIQmSc7trwk&t=24s

2018 Age of Explorations – solo exhibition  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byrPxGQz7h4&t=8s
2018 Excavations Exhibition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJWtKMelca8&t=3s

2018 Age of Exploration: Spice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn-cqOih4ng&t=18s
2017 Writing in Water  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYox7h1YnHQ
2016 We’re All in the Same Boat www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCBzJoLScE
2015INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS Project– www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8q0bD1QxtU&t=349s
 documentary film by filmmaker Jane Clegg 
2015  Sinovision Coverage of INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS  www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf2pebv7dfk


The Dress My Mother Wore  https://youtu.be/kr4W6IhL3oc


Film of the Panel Discussion hosted by the ELIZABETH A. SACKLER CENTER FOR FEMINIST ART
INTIMATE TRANSGRESSIONS: THE ACT OF DOING 
Panel discussion moderated by Fion Gunn & Anita Glesta with panelists Shirin Neshat, Luisa Valenzuela, Eleanor Heartney https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/video/videos/intimate-transgressions-the-act-of-doing