Wei Jia

Biography

Wei Jia was born in Chengdu, Sichuan in 1975. He graduated from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1999. Now based in Chongqing, Wei teaches at the Department of Printmaking at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. During his studies at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Wei was awarded several significant honors in the field of printmaking. Between 2003 and 2004, the artist began working with acrylic paint, incorporating into his paintings compositions often found in printmaking pieces. As one of China’s ‘post-70s’ contemporary painters, Wei instilled narratives of youthful and unruly sensitivities in his early works. Since 2010, he began expanding his interest in human nature, focusing on themes of singularity and universality by investigating the relations between the individual and the collective. Wei’s work depicts the fundamental qualities of life. Preexisting contours disintegrate under his dynamic strokes that dance between the figurative and the abstract, reflecting the everchanging, everlasting, and kaleidoscopic forms of life experienced in contemporary realities.

Solo Exhibitions (selection)

2022

Strenuous Journey II, Michael Ku Gallery/MANGROVEGALLERY , Taipei/Shenzhen Strenuous Journey I, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei

2017

On The Forest Trail, Star Gallery, Beijing Sudden Brilliance, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei

2015

WEI JIA: MILDLY BITING, ENCOUNTERING SPRING, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai

2012

PORTRAIT – Wei Jia solo exhibition, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei

2011

Dim Light on the Opposite Shore: Wei Jia Solo Exhibition, Star Gallery, Beijing

2009

In the Distant Fields and Smoky Woods, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Doors
to an Alternative World-Wei Jia’s Recent Works, Galerie Frank Schlag & Cie, Germany

2008

Wei Jia 2004-2008, Star Gallery, Beijing
Illuminating the Endless Night, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei

2006

An Uncivilized Spring, Star Gallery, Beijing

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2022

Colourful – The Art of Chinese Colour Printing During Four Centuries, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing

2021

Redefining Ink-Wash Painting: Chinese Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition, Yuelai Art Museum, Chongqing

2020

Painting: Macro, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong

2019

Singing the Body Electric,David Zwirner, Hong Kong

2018

Michael Ku Gallery 10th Anniversary, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei

2017

Reading the Raindrops-Western Artists Documenta, Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art, Yinchuan

2015

In Memory of a Landscape II: Lu Song, Wei Jia and Xie Fan, James Cohan
Gallery, Shanghai
Within Sight–Chinese New Painting at Post Financial Crisis Era, Taylor Foundation, Paris

2014

Landscape of Man, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei
The Immortal Scenery, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing

2012

Landscape of Man, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei
Water stains on the wall- The carrier of formation, Zhejiang Art Museum, Zhejiang Shedding –new art from china, Zhong Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2011

“From scenes to scenes of culture” After seventies artist research, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan

2010

Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art 1979-2009, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai
The Franks-Suss Collection, The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK Trans-Realism: Contemporary Art from China, Christie’s Rockefeller Plaza, Now York, USA

2009

CHINA MANIA, Arken Museum Of Modern Art Danish, Copenhagen, Denmark

2008

Looking for Me, Minsheng Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai

2007

Taking off From The West – Contemporary Art of China’s Southwest,
Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou
New Interface–Serching the future, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai
China new painting, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai
Energy – Spirit, Body, Material Today Documentary Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing

2006

Variant Pictures, China Contemporary Oil Painting Invitation Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai

2005

Scapes: the ‘Century’ and ‘Paradise’ – The Second Chengdu Biennial, Century City, Chengdu
Fushan International Print Paitinging Invitational Exhibition, Fushan, Korea

2004

Ideal of A New Generation – the Chinese New Generation, Gallery of Central
Academy of Fine Arts/He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen
11th International Biennial Print and Drawing Exhibition, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung

2003

Eighth Copperplate, Stoneplate, Silk Plate Print Painting Exhibition, Chongqing Art Museum, Chongqing

2002

The Space Group, the 12th Space International Print Biennial, Seoul, Korea

2001

7th National Exhibition of Etching, Lithography and Silkscreen, Wuhan
fifteenth National Print Painting Exhibition, Guangzhou

2000

V Triennale Mondiale d’Estampes Petit Format in Chamalieres, France

Awards

2010

BMW CHINA 2009 Art Power “Most Improved Artist”

2008

AAC2007 The Most Influential Participants of Chinese Art

2003

Gold Award and “Liao Xiuping Pring Painting Fund Award” by the EighthCopperplate、Stoneplate、Silk Plate Print Painting Exhibition
Gold Award by the First Beijing International Print Painting Biennial Exhibition

2001

Gold Award and “Liao Xiuping Pring Painting Fund Award” by the SeventhCopperplate、Stoneplate、Silk Plate Print Painting Exhibition

Collections (selection)

龙美术馆,上海
何炬星收藏,上海
民生美术馆,北京/上海
白兔美术馆,澳洲
Suherman Collection,雅加达
中国美术馆,北京
深圳美术馆,深圳
四川美术馆,成都
中央美术学院,北京
日本东京艺术大学,东京
乔志彬收藏,上海
166 Art Space,上海
国美艺术基金,北京
DSL collection,巴黎
James Wang Collection,台北
银川美术馆,银川
关山月美术馆,深圳
重庆美术馆,重庆
四川美术学院,重庆
安特卫普皇家艺术学院,比利时

Selected works

Exhibitions

Selected presses

Press release

Wei Jia: Strenuous Journey II

July 10th, 2022