Lí Wei | 2017 Residency
Switzerland | Visual Arts
Aug.25-Nov.21, 2017 — Visual Arts
Nationality: China
Residency location: Winterthur
Partner organization: Villa Sträuli
Lí Wei is a visual artist who currently lives and works in Beijing, China.
He received his BA from the Sculpture department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2007. Lí Wei adopts a hyperrealistic style in his sculptures, focusing on conveying the emotions of the figures. The objective and clinical themes in Lí’s works reveal his doubts in human nature, and of humanity’s cruelty and ignorance.
His work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions including Nobody Cares, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China (2015); Peace, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy (2014); Hero, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China (2011). He has also exhibited in major group shows including New voices: a dsl collection story, Klein Sun Gallery, New York, NY (2016); China 8 – Contemporary Art from China on the Rhine and Ruhr, Mulheim Museum, Mulheim, Germany (2015); Unlived by What is Seen, Pace Beijing, Beijing, China (2014); Commune, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia (2014); Asia Triennial Manchester – Harmonious Society, Manchester Cathedral, Manchester, UK (2014); Hugo Boss Asia Art, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2013); Criss-Cross: Artworks of Young Chinese Contemporary Artists from Long Collection, Long Museum, Shanghai, China (2013); The Unseen – The Fourth Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Provincial Museum, Guangzhou, China (2012); and BMW New Face 2011, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2011).
Throughout November 2017, he will show two video works created during his stay in Switzerland. He offers a glimpse at the result of his 3-month residency and plans to develop these works into a larger exhibition upon his return to China. “Hearsay” tells a story about Switzerland that he heard as a child. This story is more about the limitation and conspiracy of language, rather than about the country itself. “Spring” records fountains that permeate Swiss streets and are perceived as blood veins of Switzerland.
