Materials of the future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art From 1980-1990

Wang Jianwei 2009-07-09
Wang Jianwei's Studio,
Beijing

Conducted in Mandarin

“During the Cultural Revolution, I left the city and worked in a rural community from 1975 to 1977. The books I read at that time were all illegal. In those days I never read a whole book. One book that left a particular impression on me was entitled Revival. A friend lent me a copy that was wrapped in a cover that said ‘Middle School Maths: Second Volume’. Because he had read it so many times, the beginning and end of the book were both missing a couple dozen pages, so I had to begin reading from the middle. Without the beginning or end, I didn’t know the final outcome and didn’t know how it all began. It was like a riddle to me.”

Biography:

Wang Jianwei (b. 1958, Sichuan) is an artist who lives and works in Beijing.

Between 1983 and 1985, Wang studied at the Chengdu Painting Institute or Chengdu Art Academy should be CAA not CPI, and in 1984, his painting Dearest Mother received a Gold Award at the ‘Sixth National Art Exhibition’held at the National Art Museum of China. In 1985, he was admitted to the Department of Oil Painting at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now the China Academy of Art) in Hangzhou, and he received his postgraduate degree in 1987.

Since the 1990s, Wang Jianwei has been exploring the interdisciplinary influence on the contemporary art. He has been crossing over a variety of disciplines in search of a new language. Hence, his works become multifaceted and adopts various forms, ranging from cinema, theatre, multimedia, public art to painting, etc.

He has participated in numerous exhibitions in Hong Kong, China, the United States and Australia, including a solo exhibition in Beijing (1991). His work has also been shown at the 10th Documenta (1997), the 25th Sao Paulo Biennial (2002) and the 50th Venice Biennale (2005).

Wang Jianwei 2009-07-09 Wang Jianwei's Studio, Beijing

Wang Jianwei 2009-07-09
Wang Jianwei's Studio,
Beijing