Zhang Wei 2009-07-10
Zhang Wei's Studio,
Beijing
“During the Cultural Revolution, people like us were born into families that weren’t in favour, so we were rejected by society and marginalized. I still feel marginalized today…I think man’s greatest failure is to become accepted by the mainstream. That means you’ve lost all sense of self and are only following the trends. I would rather be an independent artist, but being independent means you can’t avoid being marginalized. During the Cultural Revolution, some of us so-called marginalized youth formed a group called the ‘No Name Group’.”
Biography:
Zhang Wei (b. 1952, Beijing) is an artist and is currently based in Beijing.
After returning from ‘re-education’ during the Cultural Revolution, Zhang met Zhao Wenliang, Yang Yushu, Shi Zhenyu and others and in 1971 became a member of the No Name Group. When their first exhibition was stopped by government authorities, Zhang organized an unofficial exhibition for the group on 31 December 1974 at his home in Beijing’s Western District.
In 1986, along with ten other artists, Zhang made his first trip to the United States. He subsequently settled in the United States, but has recently returned to China and has made his base in Beijing.
