Gao Dong

Gao Dong is an Associate Professor at the Fine Arts Research Institute of the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Vice Chairman of the Beijing Watercolour Painters Association (affiliated with the Chinese Artists Association), Vice Director of the Watercolour Art Committee of the Beijing Artists Association, and Secretary-General of the Architecture and Art Branch of the Architectural Society of China.

He graduated from the Department of Decorative Design at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts (1979–1983) and went on to teach at the Department of Architecture, Hebei University of Industry, where he served as Lecturer and then Associate Professor from 1983 to 1998. He joined the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University in 1998, where he has remained as Associate Professor to the present day.

In his teaching role, Gao covers a wide range of courses at both undergraduate and graduate level, including charcoal drawing and colour, architectural representation in pen and light wash, architectural colour design, and graduate seminars in public art research and colour and form studies. His research centres on watercolour art and public art, and he has completed a number of significant public art commissions, among them the relief mural Gaoshan Liushui in the central hall of the Confucius Research Institute in Qufu, Shandong; the entrance hall relief at Peking University Library; the relief Houde Zaiwu at the People's Bank of China Digital Finance Centre; and the landmark tower and landscape design for the Ningbo International Exhibition Centre plaza.

As a scholar and author, Gao has published four major books on watercolour art: Gao Dong's Watercolour Paintings — Sketch and Analysis (Heilongjiang Science and Technology Press, 1995), which was awarded Third Prize at the National Excellent Books Award in 1998; The Collection of Watercolour Paintings of Gao Dong (Heilongjiang Fine Arts Press, 1998); Colourful Landscape (Hubei Fine Arts Press, 2005); and Watercolour Painting (Shanghai People's Press, 2007). He has also contributed articles to publications including the China Art Museum journal and Hong Kong's Mingpao Monthly. Internationally, he has participated in exhibitions across the United States, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and has held solo exhibitions in the US and Hong Kong by invitation.