Liu Wei was born on 1972 in Beijing, China. He lives and works in Beijing, China. Liu Wei's practice is uniquely varied. Working in video, installation, drawing, sculpture, and painting, there is no stylistic tendency which ties his work together. Rather Liu perceives the artist's function as a responsibility of unmitigated, uncensored expression, tied to neither ideology nor form. Throughout Liu's work lies an engagement with peripheral identity in the context of wider culture; his works often describe a sentiment of excess, corruption, and aggression reflective of cultural anxiety.
Liu's sculpture Indigestion II is a monumental poo. Spanning two meters, it's a man-sized statement of rejection. Crafted with comic exaggeration, Liu's turd is both repulsive and compelling; leaving no detail to the imagination, Liu offers ?too much information? in the details. On closer inspection, half digested kernels emerge as hundreds of toy soldiers, spilling forth in an unmistakable sentiment of protest.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS-
2006
?The 4th Seoul International Media Art Biennale, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
?CHINAJAPANKOREA, Art from Japan, China and Korea, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaodengo
2005
?51 Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
?Mahjong, Bern, Switzerland
?First Nanjing Triennial, Nanjing, China
2004
?Shanghai Biennale techniques of the visible, Shanghai, China
? Exhibitions between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China
?International Center of Photography, Asia Society, New York City, United States
?Regeneration Charles Cowles Gallery, New York City, United States
2003
?Open sky Duolun Museum of Art Shanghai, China
?The fifth system, public art in the age of "post-planning" Shenzhen, China
?Hello, comrade Mingong, Today Museum of Art Beijing, China
?Double time, China academy of fine arts, Hangzhou
?Second hand reality, Today Museum of Art Beijing, China
? Refine 798, 798, Beijing, China
2002
?The First Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
?Mirage, Godot Art Museum, Suzhou Art Museum, Suzhou, China
?Everyday Attitude, An Exhibition of Chinese Photo-Based Arts, Pingyao, Shanxi, China
?Too Much Flavour, 3H Art Center, Shanghai, China; Avant-garde@Hakaren, Singapore
2001
?Post-Sensibility: Spree, Beijing Film Academy, Beijing, China
?Non-linear Narrative, Gallery of National Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China
?Mantic Ecstasy, Impression Gallery, Hangzhou; Bizart Art Center, Shanghai; Loft New Media Art Space, Beijing, China
?16th Asian International Art Exhibition, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
2000
??Home?? Contemporary Art Project, Yuexing Furniture Warehouse, Shanghai, China
1999
?Art for Sale, Shanghai Plaza, Shanghai, China
?Beijing in London, Institute of Contemporary Art, London
?Post-sensibility: Alien Bodies and Delusion, Shaoyaoju, Beijing, China
Conclusions:
Liu Wei had already established his own style and the impact of the work had won him a strong reputation in Chinese art circles.
What to Do Next...
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Liu Wei Di Huang
Liu Wei's practice is uniquely varied. Working in video, installation, drawing, sculpture, and painting, there is no stylistic tendency which ties his work together. Rather Liu perceives the artist's function as a responsibility of unmitigated, uncensored expression, tied to neither ideology nor form. Throughout Liu's work lies an engagement with peripheral identity in the context of wider culture; his works often describe a sentiment of excess, corruption, and aggression reflective of cultural anxiety.In China, you don't find a painter, and a sculptor, and a video artist, but rather one artist who is working on painting, sculpture, photography, video and (why not?) performance all at the same time. Liu Wei in Beijing to select works for my show in Turin, not only beautiful cityscape paintings but also architectural models of famous buildings, like St. Peter's Cathedral and the Empire State Building, made from the same rubber used to make fake dog bones. In Europe, an artist that looks for inspiration in both a pet shop and the early work of Gerhard Richter would most likely be dismissed as lacking a consistent point of view.
Liu Wei paintings has been seen to characterize the era's pervasive feeling of malaise. With renowned works such as New Generation (1990), Liu recycles the iconic image of Mao in an ironic interpretation of China's current post Cultural Revolution state. Liu has been active in exhibitions such as the touring exhibitions China's New Art, Post-1989, Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver, the 1998-99 exhibition Inside Out: New Chinese Art, New York and San Francisco. Liu has also participated in the 46th Venice Biennale in 1995, and has had solo exhibitions at the Jack Tilton Gallery in New York, USA in 1999 and the Urs Meile Gallery, Switzerland in 2004. The word on Chinese art right now is "Buy!" but he was not convinced that we Westerners really understand what's going on there. Ten years ago, a few Chinese artists, like Chen Zen or Huang Yong Ping, appeared on the West's radar screen, satisfying a certain outdated "Orientalist" craving among some collectors. People like Uli Sigg, the former Swiss ambassador to China, who counts some 1,500 pieces of Chinese and Asian art in his collection, and another Swiss citizen, Lorenz Helbling, who opened his gallery, ShanghART, in China more than a decade ago, are reaping the profits of their foresight. But now Western collectors and dealers are descending on China like a swarm of annoying and aimless flies. Actually, today's burgeoning Chinese art world depends very marginally, if at all, on the gallery establishment in New York and London. Huge crowds may jam the Miami Basel and Frieze art fairs, but those numbers are nothing compared with the potential size of the art market within China itself.
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