Liu Wei (b. 1972, and lives and works in Beijing, China) explores 21st century socio-political concepts such as the contradictions of contemporary society and the transformation of developing cities and the urban landscape. In many of his sculptural and installation works, he uses found materials that are re-contextualised to draw new meanings out of the materials from which they are made. Liu Wei frequently uses geometric and architectural forms in his work as a reference to his urban surroundings.
Liu Wei graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China in 1996. Upcoming solo exhibitions of his work are planned for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland (MOCA Cleveland) and the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2019, both forthcoming). Past solo exhibitions have been organised at the Long March Space, Beijing, China (2018); PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2016); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2015); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2014); and Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2011). He has participated in several international biennials and notable group exhibitions including the 58th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy; Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World, Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (2018); What About Art? Contemporary Art from China, Qatar Museum, Doha (2016); Bentu, Chinese artists at a time of turbulence and transformation, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2016); La vie Moderne, La Biennale de Lyon (2015); 28 Chinese, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2015), San Antonio Museum of Art, TX (2015), Rubell Family Collection, Miami (2013); Re:emerge: Towards a New Cultural Cartography, Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013); 4th Guangzhou Triennial, China (2012), Rehearsal, Shanghai Biennale (2010); Expenditure, Busan Biennale, South Korea (2008); and the 51st Venice Biennale (2005).
His work is included in numerous collections such as the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; The Baku Museum of Modern Art, Baku, Azerbaijan; Burger Collection, Hong Kong; DSL Collection, Paris, France; Faurschou Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark; Guy and Myriam Ullens Collection, Belgium; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Haudenschild Collection, San Francisco, CA; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul; M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; the Rubell Family Collection, Miami; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; and White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney. Liu Wei has received honors and distinctions such as the Atron AAC Award for Artist of the Year (2016); Martell Artist of the Year (2012); Credit Suisse Today Art Award, Today Art Museum (2011); CCAA Award for Best Artist (2008); and a CCAA Honorable Mention (2006).
Courtesy Lehmann Maupin

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