ENTER
Rosemary Kennedy, painting by Vincent Xeus
Vessel, painting detail by Vincent Xeus
Continuum, painting from LIGHT\POWER: The Kennedy Women by Vincent Xeus
Nostos, painting detail from LIGHT\POWER: The Kennedy Women by Vincent Xeus

LIGHT \ POWER光 \ 象

The Kennedy Women

Where Does Human Light Persist Inside the Architectures of Power?

LIGHT \ POWER Exhibition by Vincent Xeus focuses on the Kennedy Women as individuals navigating forces larger than themselves. These include lineage, inherited myth, circumstance, chance, and the quiet inertia of history. The work turns from the question of who holds power to what it does to interior life. They enter an environment shaped by power, whose scale often exceeds what any single life can hold, composed of forces that are at once protective, violent, mythic, and indifferent.

Born in China and coming of age during the arc of globalization and its reversal, Xeus approaches this distinctly American narrative through a lens forged by the rise and fragmentation of global structures. His sensitivity to identity and systems in flux informs a view of the subjects as figures formed within mutable, impersonal frameworks. The palette that runs through almost every canvas is Qing ( 青 ), a color with no fixed hue that moves through green, blue, gray, and violet and yet reflects an undiminished condition: the green of grass that has not yet dried, the blue of a sky that has not yet clouded, the black of hair that has not yet grayed. The paintings ask whether Qing ( 青 ) survives: can the inner condition of a person hold inside structures that are indifferent to it? This orientation turns the gaze from assertion to endurance, and resolution to continuity.

In Xeus's paintings, abstraction defines the structure of power by collapsing historical, familial and political force into matrix-like fields of color, gesture and space. Figuration introduces the human presence through the subject, whose posture, light and outline resist and inhabit those fields.

Against this expanse, each figure holds a contained and steady illumination. The paintings trace how identity reveals itself within the systems that shape it, and how a life maintains its interior light within the architectures through which it must move.

Selected Works

Act I

GRID

What is the shape of light, inside power?

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Rose Window, tapestry from LIGHT\POWER: The Kennedy Women, exhibition by contemporary artist Vincent Xeus
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Neverland, installation view from LIGHT\POWER: The Kennedy Women, exhibition by contemporary artist Vincent Xeus
Act II

FILM

Time, cut and arranged.

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Film, painting from LIGHT\POWER: The Kennedy Women by Vincent Xeus
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Vessel, painting by Vincent Xeus, LIGHT\POWER: The Kennedy Women exhibition
Act III

CONTACT

Surface holds force.

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Ripple and Eunice, paintings from LIGHT\POWER: The Kennedy Women by Vincent Xeus
Act IV

ATOM

The light persists.

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Trinity, painting from LIGHT\POWER: The Kennedy Women by Vincent Xeus

Catalogue


LIGHT\POWER catalogue cover Catalogue spreads preview

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Thank you.

蘇川 · Vincent Xeus

the ones that didn't hold still

War Wagon, painting by Vincent Xeus
I
S, painting by Vincent Xeus
II
Rodin Menace, painting by Vincent Xeus
V
We Are and Are Not, painting by Vincent Xeus
III
Earth, painting by Vincent Xeus
IV
Love is my Profession, painting by Vincent Xeus
VI
Harper in Snow, painting by Vincent Xeus
VII
Show Business, painting by Vincent Xeus
VIII
The Philosophy of Blue, painting by Vincent Xeus
X
The Rest of You are Just Visiting, painting by Vincent Xeus
IX
The Princess, painting by Vincent Xeus
XIV
Jewel, painting by Vincent Xeus
XI
Figure #10, painting by Vincent Xeus
XII
Elizabeth, painting by Vincent Xeus
L
A Case of Man, painting by Vincent Xeus
XV
The Portrait Concept, painting by Vincent Xeus
XVI
Flash 18, painting by Vincent Xeus
XVIII
Chains, painting by Vincent Xeus
XVII
Storm, painting by Vincent Xeus
XX
MC2, painting by Vincent Xeus
XIX
Yangeling, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXI
Harvest, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXIX
Bare Spectrum, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXII
Compression, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXIII
Diana Portrait, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXIV
Rooster, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXV
Billboard on Peoples Blvd, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXVI
Mountain, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXVII
Jean, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXIX
Blanched, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXVIII
O, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXX
IOpening — Authority
Made in California, painting by Vincent Xeus
LII
Spencer, painting by Vincent Xeus
LVIII
Master of Coin, painting by Vincent Xeus
XL
See My Glory No 6, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXXV
Golden Age, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXXII
Acqua, painting by Vincent Xeus
XLVIII
Full Moon, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXIII
Smudge on the Nobleman, painting by Vincent Xeus
XLI
IIRecognizable, Rendered Stranger
Spectator, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXII
Dulcet, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXIX
Game Changer, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXXI
Bardot in Red, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXXII
He Started It, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXXVII
The Cake, painting by Vincent Xeus
XLII
Michael, painting by Vincent Xeus
LIII
Farrow, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXXIII
IIIInstability Enters
Happy Xmas, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXXVI
The Crown, painting by Vincent Xeus
XLIII
Untitled (JFK), painting by Vincent Xeus
XLV
What to Remember, painting by Vincent Xeus
XLVI
Echoes, painting by Vincent Xeus
XLIX
IVMythology & Narrative
GASA, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXIV
Voyage, painting by Vincent Xeus
LI
Symphony with Klimt, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXVI
The Education, painting by Vincent Xeus
XLIV
Guilty No 10, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXI
Jackie Says Hello, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXXIX
VDissolution — Climax
They Just Lie There and They Die There, painting by Vincent Xeus
LX
Fever Dream, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXXIV
1985, painting by Vincent Xeus
XLVII
Nest, painting by Vincent Xeus
LIV
Ocean, painting by Vincent Xeus
LV
On Solitude, painting by Vincent Xeus
LVI
It's All Make Believe, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXXVIII
Wayne, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXVII
First Step in Faith, painting by Vincent Xeus
XXXV
VIRelease — Way Out
Sound of Moonlight, painting by Vincent Xeus
LVII
Reflections, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXXIV
Emma Choosing, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXX
Green Fire, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXXIII
Dog, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXVIII
Girl at the Sea, painting by Vincent Xeus
LXV
The Good Life, painting by Vincent Xeus
LIX

At some point the painting stops listening.

The figure is there, but not entirely.

It changes depending on how long you stay.

I didn't set out to find this.

What changes doesn't reach them completely.

The space does most of the speaking.

I couldn't track where it came from.

Everything around them shifts first.

It kept showing up, so I left it.

蘇川 · Vincent Xeus

De Crystal
Art Pavilion

Location
Sichuan, CN
Completion
2012
Conceived and designed by Vincent Xeus

De Crystal stands as a meditation on light, geometry, and nature, conceived by Vincent Xeus to redefine the modern art pavilion. The structure itself acts as a monumental sculpture. Its faceted exterior and soaring angular interiors are shaped to direct natural light and draw the surrounding landscape inward through asymmetrical apertures.

Within its walls, Xeus cultivates an atmosphere of stillness. Polished surfaces, monumental planes, and carefully placed artworks invite visitors into a space of quiet introspection. By holding the natural environment and the precision of architectural form in balance, De Crystal reshapes how we experience both space and art.

Plate i. Light 01 / 04
Chamber art design by Vincent Xeus
Plate ii. Chamber 02 / 04
Chamber art design by Vincent Xeus, chandelier out of focus
Figure seated on plinth beneath stair, light through high window
Plate iii. Passage 03 / 04
Detail — faceted stone wall against garden window
Surface detail
Plate iv. Skin 04 / 04
Exterior view
Exterior view

Budweiser Art
Experiential Center

Location
Shenzhen, CN
Completion
2020
A Collaboration With
AB InBev
Conceived and designed by Vincent Xeus

Budweiser's first global art experiential center is conceived as a bold collision of geometry, light, and material. A faceted ceiling of intersecting luminous lines fractures the space into a dynamic, crystalline canopy, setting the tone for an environment where every surface carries intention. The brand's iconic red is deployed as a structural force, threading through angular display volumes and art installations. The space unfolds as a curated sequence of encounters, each shifting in atmosphere and scale, inviting visitors to engage with the brand as a living cultural artifact.

Plate i. Scene 01 / 04
Vincent Xeus — concept drawing for the Budweiser Art Experiential Center
Plate ii. Fractal 02 / 04
Element — Budweiser Art Experiential Center
Element — Budweiser Art Experiential Center center
Plate iii. Pulse 03 / 04
Pulse — interior detail, Budweiser Art Experiential Center
Pulse — architectural detail, Budweiser Art Experiential Center
Plate iv. Editions 04 / 04
Porcelain plate edition by Vincent Xeus
Porcelain plate edition by Vincent Xeus
蘇川 · Vincent Xeus
Contemporary artist Vincent Xeus in his New York studio surrounded by his paintings
Studio · New York

Vincent Xeus

蘇川

Vincent Xeus is a contemporary artist working across painting, architecture, and large-scale immersive installation. Coming of age during the arc of globalization, Xeus experienced how identity forms within shifting, impersonal structures. That experience underlies the work's emphasis on endurance over assertion.

Trained in architecture at UC Berkeley, he approaches painting through the logic of the built environment: scale as force, space as pressure, the canvas as a structure the figure must negotiate. Power, in his work, is not enacted by the figure but embedded in the environment.

His paintings render monumental figures within densely layered fields of color that carry the weight of architectural spaces: walls of pigment that press, enclose, and occasionally yield. Gesture is minimal; posture is deliberate.

The work draws on a lineage from the spatial compression of Francis Bacon to the gestural force of Willem de Kooning, while remaining grounded in a classical attention to the figure inherited from the old masters. The abstraction makes the force visible. The figure makes the resistance tangible.

Xeus's practice unfolds through distinct bodies of work that function as variations on a consistent inquiry. While subject matter shifts, the relationship between individual presence and inherited structure remains constant. His work has been exhibited and is held in private and institutional collections internationally; the practice extends into large-scale immersive projects across the United States, Europe, and Asia, including the Budweiser Art Experiential Center, where he served as Chief Artistic and Design Director.

Xeus has spoken at the Harvard College China Forum and served as Arts Commissioner in Napa Valley. He received his BA with High Honors from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia University, where he was awarded the Columbia Fellow Award. He lives and works in New York and Napa Valley.


Selected Collections

  • Jean Kennedy Smith Collection
  • Curtis Fentress Collection
  • Coors Collection
  • Anderson Family (Prologis) Collection
  • Kelley Family (Outrigger Group) Collection
  • Shafer Vineyards Collection, Shinsegae Group
  • Tsai Family Collection
  • Anheuser-Busch InBev (Budweiser)
  • Millennium Partners New York

Selected Museum Exhibitions

  • Autry Museum of the American West
  • Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art
  • Hilbert Museum of California Art
  • Madden Museum of Art
  • New Salem Museum

Selected Recognitions

  • Columbia Fellow, Columbia University
  • Award of Exceptional Merit, Portrait Society of America International Portrait Competition
  • BP Portrait Award Finalist
  • Fra Angelico Artist of the Year, National Windows to the Divine Foundation
  • Staff Award, Art Renewal Center International Salon
  • Top 100 Oil Painters Working Today, Poets & Artists

Selected Publications

  • Artsy
  • Vanity Fair
  • American Art Collector
  • Fine Art Connoisseur
  • Hi-Fructose
  • Arrested Motion
  • Poets & Artists
  • Southwest Art
  • Wall Street International Magazine

Selected Service

  • Judge, Gavel Competition (Sotheby's Institute of Art)
  • Arts Commissioner, Napa Valley
  • Speaker, Harvard China Forum
  • Chief Artistic & Design Director, Budweiser Art Experiential Center
  • Board Director, Columbia University Arts Society
蘇川 · Vincent Xeus © 2026

News

Vincent Xeus Named Judge for the 2026 Gavel Competition, Sotheby's Institute of Art

Contemporary artist Vincent Xeus served as a judge on the New York panel of the 2026 Gavel Competition at Sotheby's Institute of Art, held simultaneously at Sotheby's auction houses in London and New York on May 27, 2026. Vincent joined Benjamin Doller, Chairman Americas at Sotheby's, Rachel ten Brink, General Partner of Red Bike Capital, and Brandon Busteed, CEO of Edconic. The competition is the flagship event of the Sotheby's Institute Enterprise Studio, recognizing early-stage ventures shaping the future of the art and luxury industries.

Read the Sotheby's Institute announcement

Vincent Xeus — A Contemporary Master of American Art

A long-form feature on contemporary artist Vincent Xeus in American Art Collector, tracing the trajectory from architectural training at UC Berkeley through the MBA at Columbia University to the current painting practice in New York. The article documents the early development of Vincent's collaboration with members of the Kennedy family on the body of work that would become LIGHT \ POWER: The Kennedy Women.

Read the American Art Collector feature

Vincent Xeus Named 2022 Fra Angelico Artist of the Year

Vincent Xeus was named 2022 Fra Angelico Artist of the Year by Windows to the Divine Foundation. Xeus was also a featured speaker at the foundation's salon, presenting alongside Art Historian Peter Trippi, Editor-in-Chief of Fine Art Connoisseur, and Helen Harrison, longtime Director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center.

Budweiser Art Experiential Center, Shenzhen — RED186

Vincent Xeus served as Chief Artistic and Design Director of the Budweiser experiential pavilion in Shenzhen, China, named RED186. Anheuser-Busch InBev's first global art experiential center unified architecture, branding, and visitor experience under a single creative vision, applying the logic of Vincent's contemporary painting practice at building scale.

View the Budweiser RED186 project Read MIUMIU's feature on RED186

Vincent Xeus Speaks at the 22nd Harvard College China Forum

Vincent Xeus was a featured speaker in the Arts and Culture programming at the 22nd Harvard College China Forum in April 2019. Xeus engaged in dynamic discussions alongside esteemed colleagues Jessica Zhang, Asia Director at Artnet and Director of Beijing's Today Art Museum, and Eugene Wang, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art at Harvard.

Centered around the theme "A Global Community, One Shared Destiny," the forum served as a vital platform for cross-cultural dialogue. The event not only highlighted the evolving landscape of contemporary art and culture but also featured major keynote presentations by global luminaries, including Kevin Rudd, Larry Culp, Jin Liqun, and Shirley Young.

View the 2019 Harvard College China Forum Read the forum recap

Hue Is Full / A Thousand Faces — Vincent Xeus in American Art Collector

American Art Collector featured Hue Is Full / A Thousand Faces, Vincent Xeus's solo exhibition of more than thirty paintings, in a preview by John O'Hern. Its subjects, drawn from pop culture and the history of art, sharpened the questions of cultural image and historical memory that run through his practice.

Vincent Xeus Exhibits New Paintings in Hue Is Full / A Thousand Faces — Hi-Fructose

Hi-Fructose covered Vincent Xeus's solo exhibition Hue Is Full / A Thousand Faces, comparing the work to Gerhard Richter and Francis Bacon. The wiping and scraping techniques introduced in the exhibition remain central to the painting practice today.

Read the Hi-Fructose article Read Artsy Editorial

Board of Directors, Arts Council Napa Valley

Vincent Xeus was elected to the Board of Directors of Arts Council Napa Valley, the officially designated local arts agency for Napa County. Founded in 1963, the council advances arts education, public art, and the region's creative community through countywide grants, programs, and advocacy.

Read the announcement

De Crystal Art Pavilion, Sichuan

Vincent Xeus served as Founding Principal of De Crystal, a standalone art pavilion in Sichuan, China. The project translated the compositional logic of Vincent's painting practice to architecture, treating the structure as a sculptural meditation on light, geometry, and surrounding landscape.

View the De Crystal Art Pavilion project
蘇川 · Vincent Xeus

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