Liu Wei, born in 1972 and currently working in Beijing, is known for his works of biting social satire and arresting visual imagery. The artist’s wide-ranging practice, which spans the breadth of painting, video, installation, drawing, and sculpture, questions the idea of marginalized positionality and is marked by anxious visions of excess, corruption, and aggression—all reflective of current social tensions.

His most recent work treats themes of environmental degradation, politically charged history, and the twin seductions and revulsions of contemporary urban life. There is no one defining stylistic tendency that ties his work together; rather, Liu Wei’s work is permeated with an engagement with peripheral identity in the context of wider culture.

Known as one of the strongest representatives of a group of young artists who have not yet been named, Liu Wei works by jarring the audience into consciousness and reframing the social condition. He takes the body as the site of social action, then ties this embodied materiality to visual perception, which is inextricably linked to a certain ‘mad reality.’ Liu Wei’s reality is absurd, but all too insightful.

Liu Wei was recognized by the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards as the artist of the year in 2007, and has recently appeared at Art Basel Miami Beach and Arco in Madrid.