Wang Jianwei

Wang Jianwei is a new media, performance, and installation artist based in Beijing, China.

Early life and education Born in Suining, Sichuan Province, China, Wang Jianwei lived in a traditional military family until 1966. Both of his parents were soldiers, and he spent his childhood in military camps, also known as budui dayuan.

In 1966, the Cultural Revolution was launched by Mao Zedong, which advocated "the abolishment of the four olds" (old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits). During this time, Wang was left fatherless, his father being sent to a reeducation camp/village that turned "peasants into workers." His father returned in 1974.

After graduating from high school in 1975, Wang relocated to the countryside. It was here that he took private painting classes from a local stage designer who worked for a Sichuan opera company and started to paint in realism. Also during this time, Wang began to study Russian literature and painting.

After two years of reeducation, Wang was conscripted to join the People's Liberation Army in 1977, where he served as a military engineer and operations specialist in a barrack in Qinghe County, Hebei Province, south of Beijing. He didn't produce any art during his military service.

In 1983, he met Zhu Guangyan, an army nurse, just before he was discharged. Less than a year later, they were married. After marriage, Wang and Zhu lived separately for almost seven years due to the government household registration system, known as the hukou registration system. Zhu was registered in Beijing, while Wang was linked to his parents back in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

Artwork and early years In 1983, the military assigned Wang to work as a store manager at the Chengdu Painting Institute, Chengdu Huayuan. During this time, he was exposed to a variety of Western art styles inspiring a series of pen drawings and sketches of patrons at a local teahouse. After graduating from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Wang produced his Tea House series (1989–1990), paintings that depict elderly residents drinking tea and passing time in local teahouses. The Tea House series was shown in a solo exhibition at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing in 1991.

During his early years, Wang developed his signature style, employing a documentary practice of studying, observing, sketching, and interacting with his subjects. It is said his process incorporated performing a cultural study of a microsociety. His visual treatment of the passage of time and movement of the subjects resembled the work of Francis Bacon, even though he was not aware of the latter until 1990.

Sichuan Painting School In 1983, Wang painted Dear Mother, a work that renewed the academic realist style of the Sichuan Painting School, a style developed by students of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Sichuan Meishu Xueyuan. The Sichuan Painting School style focuses on details of everyday life and yielded works that were often melancholic and poetic in nature.

Dear Mother won the Gold Award in its category at the Sixth National Fine Arts Exhibition at the National Art Gallery (now National Art Museum of China) in 1984, an exhibition that included works from young academic graduates and established artists in China. including Catherine David, curator for Documenta X in 1997, and Hou Hanru, a curator at Wiener Secession in Vienna, now the Consulting Curator of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Wang Jianwei: Time Temple is the artist's first solo exhibition in North America. This exhibition comprises installation, painting, film, and a live theater production.

Selected Works Commissioned for "Time Temple Time Temple, 2014. Acrylic and oil on canvas, four panels. Time Temple, 2014. Acrylic and oil on canvas. Time Temple 1, 2014. Wood and rubber, seven parts. Time Temple 2, 2014. Wood, rubber, and steel, five parts. Time Temple 3, 2014. Wood, brass, and rubber, two parts. Time Temple 4, 2014. Wood and paint, two parts. Time Temple 5, 2014. Wood and steel, three parts. The Morning Time Disappeared, 2014. Film, shot in Beijing. Spiral Ramp Library, 2014. Performance, two parts.

Selected solo exhibitions Wang Jianwei, Cultural Palace of Nationalities, Beijing, 1991. Wang Jianwei, Hong Kong Arts Centre, 1992. Incident-Process, State, Hong Kong Arts Centre, 1992. Ceremony, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 2003. Wang Jianwei: Giant Steps, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, Australia, 2004. Traveled to Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide 2004–2005. Relativism: A Flying Bird Is Motionless, Chambers Fine Art, New York, 2005–2006. Traveled to Arario Gallery, Beijing, 2006. Dodge, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, 2006. Cross Infection, Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, 2007. Dilemma: Three Way Fork in the Road–Recent Works by Wang Jianwei, Chambers Fine Art, New York, 2007. Hostage, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, 2008. Symptom: A Large Stage Work by Wang Jianwei, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China, 2008. Time-Theatre-Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, 2009. Wang Jianwei: Yellow Signal, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2011. Wang Jianwei: ...the event matured, accomplished in sight of all non-existent human outcomes, Long March Space, Beijing, 2013. Wang Jianwei: Time Temple, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, 2014–2015.

Curated exhibition He An: What Makes Me Understand What I Know?, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2009.

Honors and awards FCA grant, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, 2008. Wang Jianwei represented China in the 50rd Venice Biennale, in 2003.