Chen Wei was born in Salt City Zigong in southwest Sichuan in 1980. She went to Sichuan Fine Arts Institute to study oil painting in 1997 and graduated with a master’s degree in Oil Painting in 2006. In 2012, she received the Young Artist Award from the 6th Most Influential Participants of Chinese Arts 2011. In 2005, CHEN Wei made a successful debut with My Way, a series of painted boxes, in Archeology of the Future: the Second Triennial of Chinese Art, Nanjing. Her subject matters are eclectic—her imagination is captured by the shapes of living creatures like birds, beasts, reptiles and fish; so is it inspired by imaginary scenes such as life and death. For her, the imagery in her painting is but the carrier of delicate human feelings. CHEN regards herself as a visual “omnivore.” In addition to painting, in her leisure time she enjoys collecting varied objects that she would later use as art materials. Keen on traditional culture and crafts, she makes attempts on bringing forth new artwork by combining these cherished objects. The Salt City, an artwork exhibited in the 9th Shanghai Biennale 2012, is a large-scale complex installation coming of her continual attempts. The Salt City represents a starting point from which Chen entered upon a new phase of her life as artist. She devotes herself to representing the real world with the concepts and techniques of craftwork, in the hope of dissolving the clear lines of demarcations between different art forms: painting, sculpture, installation, garden art, folk craft, and many others. It is Chen’s ambition to be a pioneer who would bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary arts. Chen has always wanted to visit Taiwan. She hopes that she could integrate her discoveries made on this cultural trip with her personal experiences during the short sojourn in Taiwan. The fruit of her exploration would be an integral whole which is composed of objects collected in Taiwan. It would be an art work that is imbued with the feelings of Taiwanese people and that captures those everyday moments in life on this island.

Artist Talk ｜ 2012.11.14 (Wed.)，13：30（Multi Media Room, 3F）

Open Studio ｜ 2012.11.24 (Sat.)，14：00 (Mezzanine Level, 2F)

Exhibition Dates ｜ 2012.11.28〜12.07（Mezzanine Level, 2F）