Video (MPEG) Wei.mp4 | Download (621MB) Available under University of Tasmania Standard License.

Abstract

Guan Wei will be speaking on - The Three Elements in My Work – Wisdom, Knowledge, Humour".
“I try to emphasise three elements in my work: wisdom, knowledge & humour. I believe people need wisdom to choose from the many different cultural traditions that confront us everyday; knowledge is the key to open our minds to the diversity of the world; and humour is necessary to comfort our hearts. I also like to tell stories in my work”.
Born 1957, Beijing, China. In 1989, three years after graduating from the Department of Fine Arts at Beijing Capital University, Guan Wei came to Australia to take up an artist-in-residence at the Tasmanian School of Art. He was invited to undertake two further residencies: one at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney (1992), the other at the Canberra School of Art, Australian National University (1993). Since then he obtained many grants, including Australia Council’s grant for Greene St New York studio in 2003, Cite International des Art Paris in 2007 & Fellowship in 2008-2009. In 2008 he set up a studio in Beijing. Now he lives & works in both Beijing & Sydney.

Guan Wei’s work has a profoundly felt, if implicitly ironic, moral dimension. In their complex symbolic form, his subjects potently embody current social & environmental dilemmas. They are equally the product of his rich cultural repertory of symbols & his informed socio-political awareness & art-historical knowledge.

Wei has held 45 solo exhibitions, including, most recently, ‘Spellbound’ 2011 at He Xiang Ning OCT Contemporary Art Centre Shenzhen; ‘Cloud in the sky, Water in the bottle’ Shumu Art Space, Beijing 2010. In 2006, Craftsman House published Guan Wei’s monograph. He has won several awards, including the 2002 Sir John Sulman Prize.

Item Type:	Video
Authors/Creators:	Wei, G
Publisher:	University of Tasmania
Collections:	University of Tasmania > Tasmanian College of The Arts > Art Forum Lecture Series
Additional Information:	Copyright 2011 University of Tasmania
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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