In 2019 the Museum of Contemporary Art (moCa) Cleveland and the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) will mount an ambitious solo exhibition of new and existing work by internationally renowned artist Liu Wei (b. 1972, Beijing), the artist’s first solo US museum exhibition. With works by Liu Wei on view concurrently at both institutions, the exhibition represents a formal collaboration between moCa Cleveland and the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). Different aspects of Liu Wei’s diverse practice will be shown at each venue.
Liu Wei is one of China’s most well known contemporary artists, but like many of his contemporaries, his work has not been thoroughly contextualized for Western audiences. As part of a generation of artists whose careers emerged during a period of rapidly accelerating urbanization, Liu Wei’s work explores the rigidly controlled social and political contradictions of modern Chinese society. Working with the readymade as well as a range of diverse media, including photography, painting, sculpture, and installation, Liu Wei is known for crystallizing the visual and intellectual chaos of China’s myriad transformations. He frequently uses geometric and architectural forms in his work as a reference to his urban surroundings. moCa’s focused presentation of the artist’s oeuvre, which will include existing and new work, will generate new scholarship about the artist and will include a publication on the artist’s work to date.
Liu Wei lives and works in Beijing and graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China in 1996. His work has been presented in numerous exhibitions at international venues including: PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2016); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2015); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2014); and Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2011). He has participated in several international biennials and notable group exhibitions including What About Art? Contemporary Art from China, Qatar Museum, Doha (2016); Bentu, Chinese artists at a time of turbulence and transformation, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2016); La vie Moderne, La Biennale de Lyon (2015); 28 Chinese, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2015), San Antonio Museum of Art, TX (2015), and the Rubell Family Collection, Miami (2013); Re:emerge: Towards a New Cultural Cartography, Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013); 4th Guangzhou Triennial, China (2012), Rehearsal, Shanghai Biennale (2010); Expenditure, Busan Biennale, South Korea (2008); and the 51st Venice Biennale (2005).
View more information on the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland’s website.