Liu Wei was born in 1972 in Beijing. He trained as a painter at the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, graduating in 1996. He later moved back to Beijing. He was nominated for the Credit Suisse Today Art Award (2011) and received the Chinese Contemporary Art Award for Best Artist (2008).
Liu Wei’s work encompasses a range of media and techniques, including photography, painting, sculpture and installation. He has frequently turned to architectural and urban themes, and while he presents the city as a dynamic and vital force, he also raises questions about life in the metropolis. The ready-made is a recurring element in his practice: pieces are often assembled from found objects such as tiles, books, fridges and fans. The artist re-works these materials, transforming them into sculptural objects and installations. Power (2011) made use of discarded TV sets; Merely a Mistake (2009-2012) was a series of structures made from the detritus of Beijing’s building sites: wooden beams, door frames, planks and metal bolts.
Liu has held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Ohio; the Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2016); the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2015); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2014). Group exhibitions include the 58th Venice Biennale (2019); Faurschou Foundation, Beijing (2018); the Guggenheim Museum, New York (2017); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2017); Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2016); the 13th Lyon Biennial (2015); the 11th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates (2013); the 4th Guangzhou Triennial, China (2012); the 6th Busan Biennale, South Korea (2008); and the 51st Venice Biennale (2005).