Beijing-based artist Lí Wei is known for making visually striking hyperreal sculptures, videos, and installations that engage social and psychological concerns.
Read MoreBeijing-born artist Lí Wei graduated with a BA from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 2007. Lí Wei's practice examines human psychology, behaviour, and the relationships between the individual and society. Further recurring interests include the loss of innocence, identity, power, and collective memory. He works in a range of mediums including sculpture, video, and installation.
In 2017, Lí Wei undertook a three month residency through Pro Helvetia in Zurich, during which he produced two site-responsive video works. Hearsay (2017) examines language and its limitations, recalling a story about Switzerland that the artist heard as a child. Spring (2017) records Swiss fountains, framed as the veins of Switzerland.
Lí Wei is known for his hyperrealistic sculptures and busts of human figures, often presented in uncanny situations. Reflecting the artist's outlook on human nature, cruelty, and ignorance, his figures express emotions ranging from fear—as displayed in the face of the woman in Symptom (2009)—to neutral stoicism, as in The Truth (2009).
For Tang Contemporary Art's inaugural exhibition at its Beijing space in 2020, Lí Wei presented Fairy Tale, a significant exhibition consisting of hyperreal sculptures, tableaus, and installations. On the concept of the show, the artist states: 'Humanity is a battlefield. Whether it is through the consumption of oneself or the resistance and reluctant acceptance of the outside world, fairy tales are the bugle call to war, while also used to kill time or to temporarily cover-up problems. ... The concept of childhood is a modern invention, but people can, at any time, return to a primitive way of being.'
Though disparate in aesthetic and execution, the fantastical works in Fairy Tale come together as pieces of a story—a counter-narrative to a conventional fairy tale. Once upon a time (2020) comprises eight electric toy cars carrying six life-like silicone sculptures of children, complete with human hair and clothing. Where are you from? (2020) is an all-white playroom setting with an ornate dining table and chairs, stacked precariously high with building blocks. Who are you? (2020) is a large cast-copper Buddha, facing its reflection in the brass-framed mirror of A Decorative Thing (2014).
Selected solo exhibitions include Fairy Tale, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing (2020); Cellar and Garret, Klein Sun Gallery, New York (2017); Secure for Now, Studio 9 & X Gallery, Hong Kong, F2 Gallery, Paris, and Primo Marella Gallery, Turin (2016); Still Nobody Cares, A2Z Art Gallery, Paris (2015); Nobody Cares, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing (2015); Peace, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan (2014); Thank God, Gallery Yang, Beijing (2013); Confessional, A2Z Art Gallery, Paris (2013); and Hero, Today Art Museum, Beijing (2011).
Selected group exhibitions include WHO AM I, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing (2020); Mirrors: The Reflected Self, Museum Rietberg, Zurich (2019); New voices: A DSL Collection Story, Klein Sun Gallery, New York (2016); CHINA 8 — Contemporary Art from China, Mulheim Museum (2015); Unlived by What is Seen, Pace, Beijing (2014); and Commune, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney (2014).
Lí Wei has presented work at Villa Sträuli, Zurich (2017); the Asia Triennial Manchester (2014); and the Guangzhou Triennial (2012).
Lí Wei's works are held in collections worldwide, including the DSL Collection, Paris; White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney; Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris; and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin.
Lí Wei's website can be found here.
Misong Kim | Ocula | 2021
