- Contributor
Description -
Growing up in an intellectual family in Changsha and always passionate about art, Zhang Wei enrolled at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1978 to learn traditional water and ink painting, only to find out there were no techniques being taught in the classroom that he had not already mastered. So where could truly original creativity be unearthed? With this question in mind, Zhang Wei set out to explore his multi-faceted artistic potentials. He took on graphic design, wrote fictions and screenplays, edited books, and traveled across Europe and the States. When he was later invited to design the cover for the relaunch issue of a literary magazine, he naturally drew inspirations from the resources that were most readily at his disposal: Chinese traditional painting, entertainment industry, and his computer. His print and oil on canvas “Qi Baishi Vs. Marilyn Monroe” series are based on the simple, whimsical watercolor figures of Qi Baishi, the renowned Chinese painter of the late 19th century whose artistic motto was “in speech, use words that people can understand. In painting, depict things that people have seen.” In the same spirit, Zhang Wei’s artworks juxtaposes Qi Baishi’s elegant, reserved scholars painted with refined, lucid brushstrokes, with gaudy portraits of Marilyn Monroe: gleeful, voluptuous, and seductive.
- City Weekend
says -
Originally from Changsha, artist Zhang Wei draws inspirations from Chinese traditional painting, entertainment industry and his computer. Take particular notice of his “Qi Baishi Vs. Marilyn Monroe” series, which pays homage to renowned Chinese painter Qi Baishi while at the same time features seductive images of Marilyn Monroe.
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Check out our review of this show here.