+ Wang Jianwei

Born 1958, Chengdu, China Resides in Beijing, China

"We Will never embrace this kind of experience again, that is ,the belief that a knowledge of reality can be arrived at via one philosophy, one theory or one ideology.Its legitimacy is finished. Any form of linear understanding, of believing that 'progress' is built on the process of endless production and reproduction denies the variety apparent to those who are willing to see. We will need to be sustained by an ambiguous, non-fixed and multi-layered reality. The world will have no essence but more possibilities".Wang Jianwei

In 1987 Wang Jianwei obtained his Masters in Painting from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in Hongzhou. Since then he has been appointed as a professional painter in Beijing Art Academy. He has held numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide and is presently established as a leading expert in multimedia art in China.

In the 1980's, Wang gained fame as an oil painter for his realistic representations of the life of the Cultural Revolution and the young Red Guard members in the countryside. This type of painting was regarded as "Scare Literature" painting. An example of this category type is "End-Door" which shows the elderly relaxing, having tea while in the background is the strong symbol of a red door. The painting talks about that generation of Chinese workers who were the inheritors of heroic model of the Cultural Revolution. In later works he developed a pictorial language playing with time and memory but still in an essentially conservative manner.

In the 1990's, Wang shifted his attention to experimental installations. This was a form which was gathering acceptance as more artists brought back influences from the West. Wang refers to this experimental form of art as a system based on holistic and organic principles. He assumes and maintains that through the integration of knowledge, he can fully express the subtle and dynamic inter-relationships between science, philosophy, art, society and human experience.

Wang Jiangwei has produced a number of installations during the past few years. "File, Event-Process and State", "Grey Series", "Laboratory Series" and "Video Series" have employed various materials from laboratory glass objects, books, video monitors, transparent cycling system, computers, insects and electronic systems. More recently he has experimented with production methods particularly for wheat. In this work he contracted farmers to produce hybrids of unusual wheat varieties as opposed to those supplied by the state, and in doing so entered the contemporary Chinese debate surrounding ownership of the fruits of labour. Wang Jianwei has "radically increased the function of contemporary art as the most advanced model of imagination and creation while emphasising the direct intervention of art in real life." (Hou Hanru: a critic who lives in Paris).

Wang Jianwei has successfully blurred boundaries between art and non-art. He is attempting to challenge the way we arrive at systems of knowledge and asks us to value the process of getting there as an entity in itself, capable of re-interpreting results in varying conclusions. Through his work, Wang hopes to invite viewers to consider relationships between the physical appearances of objects and their implications to the humanistic experiences of mankind. He is asking us to begin to comprehend the endless possibilities around us.

by Hung Fu/Bing Hui