Adou

Artist Bio

Adou (b. 1973, Mianyang, Sichuan Province) graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the Sichuan Aba Normal College in 1995. Following graduation, he worked as a design and creative director in the advertising field for nearly a decade.

Inspired by the documentary photography of Julia Margaret Cameron, Robert Frank, Sally Mann and August Sander, Adou began photographing the people and places around him. The “Samalada” series, for example, depicts the Yi ethnic minority on Da Liang Mountain in the artist’s native Sichuan Province. Adou’s portraits and landscapes do not seek to portray individuals or illustrate specific moments, but collectively represent a visual expression of his culture and, by extension, of the photographer himself.

Adou’s photographs have been shown throughout China and Japan in exhibitions including “Chengdu Photographers Three Person Exhibition” at the International Photography Festival in Pingyao (2005), the Lianzhou Photography Festival in Guangdong Province (2006), “Outward Expressions, Inward Reflections” at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing (2007), and the MIO Retrospective Exhibition in Kyoto (2007).

Adou is the recipient of the Grand Prize at the Japan MIO International Young Photographers Competition for his series “Public Buses & Chinese People” (2005) and the KLM Paul Huf Award in the Netherlands (2007).

A monograph of Adou’s work is included in the multi-volume set “Outward Expressions, Inward Reflections” (Three Shadows Press, 2007).

Adou lives and works in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. (bio)

Adou at Pace/MacGill Gallery

Adou at Haines Gallery