“Chen Wei: Noon Insomnia” is a survey of 12 representative works by the Chinese artist, selected from the beginnings of his career to his latest series. The solo exhibition marks Chen Wei’s debut with the gallery.
Part of an emerging generation of Chinese artists born in the 1980’s who have become less concerned with political criticism or history as their predecessors, than they are with youth culture, intellectual freedom and identity, Chen Wei has developed an idiosyncratic aesthetic through the language of photography.
An early work that lends the exhibition its puzzling title, Noon Insomnia, demonstrates the artist’s contemplation of the Kafkaesque paradox of embarking on a journey that leads to nowhere. Slumped in a sinking boat, it seems that the man pictured is resigned to his inertia with no hope of crossing to the other side. At the same time, the title references Chen Wei’s own childhood in a village in the 80’s, where he would sneak outdoors while the factory workers and other children went home for an afternoon nap. Reflecting on this suspended time of restlessness, he acknowledges the uneasy change in labour during the following decade and questions its direction.
In all of his works, the artist dazzles the viewer’s imagination with his staging of mysterious narratives, his attention to intricate detail, and his compositions’ melancholy beauty. Chen Wei’s photography reveals a deep capacity for discovering rich meaning in the subtle, for overturning and rendering exquisite the everyday, and for finding the poetic within the urban. Ota Fine Arts is proud to represent his work as part of a new frontier in Chinese contemporary art.
Opening reception: Friday, 3 July 2015 7-9PM
Venue: Ota Fine Arts, 7 Lock Road, #02-13 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108935
When: 3 Jul - 15 Aug 2015,
By: Ota Fine Arts