Salt Lake City
Sept. 29 – Oct. 27
Opening reception: Friday, September 29, from 6:00-9pm
Material, Salt Lake City’s newest contemporary art gallery, presents the exhibition Lu Wei: My Sole Desires, a presentation of ink paintings, handmade art books and scrolls by Taiwanese artist Lu Wei, opening on September 29, 2023.
Referencing historical and multicultural symbols of women and femininity, Lu Wei’s artworks expand on the tradition of Yin writing from its origins in calligraphy and ink painting. Honoring classical imagery while researching female iconography across cultures, Wei’s works respond to personal experiences of the feminine body and motherhood while challenging traditional constructs of these symbols.
Material co-director Jorge Rojas says, “We are honored to present Lu Wei’s first solo exhibition in the United States, and to introduce her masterful work to the Salt Lake arts community. Lu Wei connects Chinese ink painting and calligraphy with feminist thought, integrating gender, mythology, and nature. In doing so, she explores the possibilities of contemporary ink painting within the context of Chinese art history, addressing its absence of women, while imbuing the work with her life experiences.
She says, “The title and several of the works in this show were inspired by and are my response to The Lady and the Unicorn medieval tapestry series. Made around 1500, the series depicts a woman next to a lion and a unicorn surrounded by trees and flowers. It can be viewed as an allegory of the five senses and of a sixth sense – soul, heart, or will – represented by ‘mon seul désir’ or ‘my sole desire’, which is the focus of this exhibition. My experience with pregnancy and motherhood while in graduate school has had a profound impact on my work and is the inspiration behind this series.”
Material will host an opening reception for Lu Wei on Friday, September 29, from 6:00-9pm. The exhibition will also be available for viewing on Friday, October 20, 6:00-8pm, as part of Salt Lake City’s Gallery Stroll, during the closing reception on Friday, October 27, from 6:00-9pm, and by appointment. The artist will be in attendance for the opening and closing receptions of her exhibition.
The exhibition Lu Wei: My Sole Desire is made possible in part by the generous support of The Taiwanese Ministry of Culture.
About the artist:
Lu Wei is a visual artist and curator based in Taipei, Taiwan. She received a master’s degree in Fine Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA). Working primarily in Chinese ink painting, her work focuses on gender, mythology, and nature. Re-envisioning images of mythological and classical religious figures, Wei’s work subverts established depictions of the female body. She does this by responding to Chinese art history and by incorporating her life experiences as a mother and artist. In addition to ink paintings, her work includes artist books and paper cutting installations.
In 2023, Lu Wei was artist-in-residence at Taipei Artist Village, a collaborative multi-year program with Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, sponsored by the Asia Pacific Exchange Program and based at Grey Projects in Singapore. Lu Wei was recently awarded a grant from the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture, which includes a three-month artist residency at 18th Street Arts Center in Los Angeles, CA. This year, the National Taiwanese Art Bank acquired several of Lu Wei’s paintings as part of their permanent collection. Wei has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including SOKA Art (Tainan, Taiwan, 2021), Mezzo Art (Tainan, Taiwan, 2021), Taipei Artist Village (Taipei, Taiwan, 2020), and AKI Gallery (Taipei, Taiwan, 2020). She is also a recognized and celebrated curator with several national and international exhibitions, including shows at Taitung Art Museum (Taitung, Taiwan, 2023) for which she was nominated for the 22nd Taishin Art Award, MOCA Taipei (Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei) for which she received the “curator’s incubator program @museums” grant from the National Culture and Arts Foundation, and at Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-Lab) for this year’s Taiwan Annual.
Material
2970 South West Temple, Unit B
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
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Categories: Exhibitions | Salt Lake Area Exhibitions
