Introduction of the artist:

LIU Wei (China)

1972  Born in Beijing, China. Lives and works in Beijing, China.
Selected solo exhibitions: 2012 Foreign, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France; 2011 Myriad Beings, Today Art Museum, Beijing; 2011 Trilogy, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai; 2009 The Forgotten Experience, Galerie Hussenot, Paris;  2009 Yes, That’s All, Beors-Li Gallery, Beijing; 2007 The Outcast, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing; 2007 Love It, Bite It, China Art Archives and Warehouse in association with Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing; 2006 Property of Liu Wei, Beijing Commune, Beijing; 
Selected group exhibitions: 2010 DREAMLANDS, Centre Pompidou, Paris; 2010 State of Things?–  Exhibition of the Contemporary Art Exchange between China and Belgium, National Art Museum of China, Beijing; 2010 the 8th Shanghai Biennale, China; 2009 Breaking Forecast- 8 Key Figures of China’s New Generation Artists, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; 2008 Busan Biennale, South Korea; 2008 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, China; 2008 Revolution Continues, Saatchi Gallery, London; 2008 China Power Station 3, Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg; 2007 9th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France; 2007 China Power Station 2, Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst, Oslo, Norway; 2006 AllLookSame? Tutttuguale?, Fondazione Sandretto Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy.

Introduction of works:

Whether it involves painting or sculpture, video or installation – the medium has never been the question for Liu Wei; he is first and foremost a visual explorer.

Liu Wei often emphasises a type of ‘reality’, one that is perhaps different from the real world he perceives outside his studio. In Liu’s ‘reality’, readymade wooden remains of discarded furniture can freely develop into all sorts of architectural works. He incorporates colours reminiscent of an era of socialism – light green, cream, ochre – and, like the ripening of fruit, his works gradually mature into their own type of ‘reality’, according to his own, fixed ‘order’. The basis of this ‘order’ lies in Liu’s creative process and can be compared with the theory and practice behind traditional Chinese ink painting. Laozi mused in the Daode Jing, “the way gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, and Three gives birth to ten thousand things.” The practice of working with an ink brush is a similar process – one allows the ink to fall to the paper, and lets the strokes follow behind, growing and spreading, each of them based on the one that came before. Stone mountains and lush forests grow, all attempting to retain their own forms but inevitably merging together – all reliant on the visual eagerness of Liu’s ‘order’ and imagination. Brushstrokes form from brushstrokes – with organic shapes that belong to nature as well as to society. And in the process through which this ‘reality’ takes its form, relationships form a simple bond, grafted and juxtaposed to create a new visual relationship, harmony, or perhaps contradiction. Strokes come together, perfectly suited for one another, each present with an unrestrained sense of urgency.   In this ‘reality’, there is a colossus resembling a stone meteorite – an installation made from readymade, natural materials – that directly opposes the artist’s visual perception of books. In Liu Wei’s mind, books are marvellously intriguing: not only due to their content, but also to their shape, density, texture, and the sort of ineffable energy they possess. Sitting there quietly, unread, these present another ‘reality’ – the transience and limited nature of knowledge.