FEATURED ARTIST MALEONN (MA Liang)
MALEONN (MA Liang)
Maleonn was born in 1972, Shanghai, China. He had his 11 years’ art study completed by 1995.
In 2003, Maleonn started his career as an artist, creating graphic art by the media of photography, as well as drawing and installation art.
Instead of “taking photos”, I am “making photos”
Maleonn was born in 1972, Shanghai, China. He had his 11 years’ art study completed by 1995.
After graduation, he went into the world of advertisement and became a director of commercial filming. During this period of his career, he has won golden award of the China International Advertising Festival twice.
In 2003, Maleonn started his career as an artist, creating graphic art by the media of photography, as well as drawing and installation art. He held multiple solo exhibitions and groups exhibitions in major cities around the world. In 2006, he has won the Digital Photography Award of IDAA (International Digital Art Awards) in Australia. In 2008, he won the 1st place & Photography of the Year of the 4th Spider awards in England. In 2009, he won the Gold Medal of ‘China’ theme and Gold Medal of Excellence of 8th Trierenberg Super Circuit. In 2019, he has received the award as the Top 10 Photography Artists of the 1st Modern China Art Photography Award, the Golden Panda Award by the Art Center of Modern China Photography Art.
In 2012, Maleonn started his public art project, the Studio Mobile. He put his photo studio into two mini vans, and travelled through China for 10 months, taking free portraits for 1,600 strangers in 35 cities. The event has led to a nation-wide attention to this very artist, and created enthusiastic discussion on the internet. Many medias at home and abroad reported this art event. To name a few, The Guardian, Daily Mail, BBC, CCTV and China Daily.
In 2014, Maleonn began to create a puppetry theatre as a gift for his parents, who have spent their whole life in the theatre. He spent two and a half years inventing the one-and-only life-size puppet system, and used those puppets for his first theatre work Papa’s Time Machine. The show had been selected as the recommendation project of Shanghai International Arts Festival, one of the top 10 projects of International Society for the Performing Arts in 2016, as well as the official recommendation show of CINARS. It has participated the Arts & Ideas Festival in New Haven, America, and has been invited by several world-class festivals, such as Spoleto Festival and Israel Festival.
In 2019, the documentary film Our Time Machine focus on Maleonn and his work has received Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature Film of Tribeca Film Festival 2019, Grand Jury Award: International Documentary Feature of Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival 2019 and Comcast Documentary Winner of CAAMFest 37, 2019.
Maleonn’s artworks are available in our shop.