Born in the late 1960s, Wei Dong grew up in a traditional and conservative living environment,
which makes his works have a strong rebellious spirit. Wei Dong’s works, which often feature
women, combine absurdity with the sense of detachment of shuttling between the ancient and the
modern in the context of economic oppression and cross-cultural globalization. In Wei Dong’s early
works, a sense of intimacy of the language of painting is revealed in anachronistic scenes where
the elements of the painting are at odds with the protagonist.
“My Trouble with Gentleman”, shows the corner of an interior decorated in ancient Chinese style,
and a naked woman standing in front of an old man who perhaps belongs to dynastic China. Seen
from the behind, only the woman’s full-grown body and porcelaneous skin are visible, it is as if her
identity has been erased or solely decided by her naked flesh. Despite how powerless and
vulnerable as the woman may appear to be, it is subverted by a pair of scissors clenched behind
her back. The contrast between the tightly secured scissors and the skeptical expression of the old
man not only creates a sense of tension in the picture but also a warning from a seemingly
defenseless woman.
Wei Dong graduated from the BFA from Capital Normal University, Beijing, China. His oil paintings
have received widespread attention from both the Chinese and Western art worlds, and have been
exhibited in numerous major international and domestic exhibitions. He has held numerous solo
exhibitions in New York, London, Berlin, Tokyo, Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong and Beijing. His
works have been included in the collections of selected public institutions and foundations,
including the Queensland Art Gallery, the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney, the Trammell Crow
Museum in the the United States, the DeYoung Museum of Art in San Francisco, the M+ Museum
in Hong Kong, and the Museo de la Carmeb Thyssen-Bornemisza in Spain, among others. His work
has been exhibited at the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts in the United States,
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Kunst Museum in Switzerland, Akureyi Art Museum in Iceland,
the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Korea, Today Art Museum and Shenzhen Art Museum
in China, as well as in numerous galleries in China, Hong Kong (China) and United States.
