Home > Artists > ZHU Zhiwei

ZHU ZHIWEI | 朱志伟

  • Lives in: Chongqing
Zhu Zhiwei (b. 1983) was born in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, graduating from the oil painting department of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2007. Encouraged at a young age to pursue his interest in art, Zhu Zhiwei tested into a high school affiliated with the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute when he was a teenager, and continued on for advanced study. His parents' working class background left a profound impact on Zhu Zhiwei, whose works are dominated by the presence of industry. Factories, workshops, and machines make up the backdrop to most of his works, peopled by small, naked chubby human figures, their skin an angry pink. The figures in his works seem equal part cherub, gremlin, and lemming, teeming over the edges of forbidding industrial smoke stacks and production lines. The artist sees cities as the inheritors of industrial civilization, and his works are a whimsical exploration of the industrial landscape as a site of life and livelihood. For a young, emerging artist, Zhu Zhiwei has already shown in moderately within the mainland, and as his practice develops, his profile seems poised to grow.

A WORD FROM THE ARTIST

Industrialization is the main theme of my work; the background of which is like a jigsaw puzzle - an arrangement comprising all sorts of elements. I am interested in the people’s lifestyle and their feelings of nostalgia in the midst of large-scale industrialized production. Images of child-like figures living an ordinary life in giant factories epitomize the incongruities and absurdities of contemporary life amidst the high-speed development of China’s cities. The factories that we build with our own knowledge and sweat propel our economic progress, but In front of these factories, individual people appear insignificant and powerless. Each viewer brings his own complex associations and recollections into the world that I have constructed.

My works often contain simultaneously real and imaginary industrial elements, as well as rich scenes of everyday life. All of these the thoughts and images originate from my own ordinary life. Anxiety and uneasiness, absurdity and panic, confusion and grievance, hope and despair can all be found in my works.

With steel and concrete structures as homes, in an increasingly industrialized landscape, the whole world has become distorted beyond recognition.

CURRICULUM VITAE

1983Born in Chongqing
2003Graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute High School
2007Bachelor's Degree in Oil Painting from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute
2010Master's Degree in Oil Painting from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute
Exhibitions
2011"Look at the Future", The Winshare Museum Scholarship, Chengdu Biennale Special Invitational Exhibition, Chengdu
"Evolution", 501 Artist Community Exhibition, Huangjueping 501 Center for Contemporary Art, Chongqing
"Shining Reality of the Dream", 21st Century Art Ecological Annual Invitational Exhibition, Huangjueping Art District, Chongqing
2010"Passing Through the Invisible Wall", Department of Oil Painting 2010 Graduate Exhibition, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing
Chinese Art Week, Shanghai World Expo Theme Pavilion, Shanghai
"Language and Speech", 17th Annual Exhibition of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Awarded First Prize, Chongqing Fine Arts Museum, Chongqing
The 7th Annual Sichuan Fine Arts Academy Graduate Students Exhibition, Awarded First Prize, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing
"Fusion", Contemporary Art Exchange Exhibition, Chongqing
2009The Fourth Exhibition of Fine Arts in Chongqing and 11th National Fine Arts Exhibition, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing
"Reflect-Focus", Dun Gallery, Beijing
“We”, 2009 Huangjueping Annual Art Exhibition, Chongqing 501 Art Base, Chongqing
“Acculturation 2009”, Hangzhou Dahan Arts Gallery, Hangzhou
The 6th Annual Sichuan Fine Arts Academy Graduate Students Exhibition, Awarded First Prize, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing
“Look to the Future”, 16th Annual Exhibition of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing Fine Arts Museum, Chongqing
2008“100 Tales in Animamix”, Linda Gallery, Beijing
“The End of World ”, Dahan Arts Gallery, Hangzhou
Cross-Straits Art Exchange, Chongqing, Beijing, Hubei, Taipei
“I am Playing”, Cutting Edge Artists Exhibition, Deauville Art Gallery, Taipei
“Myself and My World”, Young Artists Oil Painting Exhibition, Hanmo Art Gallery, Beijing
2008 Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Cutting Edge Artists Exhibition, Dahan Arts Gallery, Hangzhou
Wusong Teacher-Student Exhibition, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Gallery, Chongqing
5th Annual Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Graduate Students Exhibition, Awarded First Prize, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing
“Re-explain Contemporary” Group Exhibition for Guangzhou Fine Arts Academy and Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Graduate Students, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Guangzhou Fine Arts Museum
“The Scene”, 15th Annual Exhibition of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing
2007Chongqing Exhibition of New Talent in Contemporary Art, Chongqing Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, Chongqing
“Never Ending” Young Artists Group Exhibition, New Wave Gallery, Shanghai
Chinese Contemporary Art Experimental Education Exhibition, Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai
2006Sino-British Education Exchange Exhibition, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing
“Big Image, My Form”, Tank Loft Contemporary Art Centre, Chongqing
The 13th Annual Exhibition of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing
2005The 12th Annual Exhibition of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Awarded Prize for Excellence, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing
National Touring Exhibition for Outstanding Works by Students, Chongqing, Beijing, Shanghai
2004The 11th Annual Exhibition of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Awarded Prize for Excellence, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing
The First Foundational Teaching Exhibition, Awarded Prize for Excellence, Chongqing Fine Art Museum, Chongqing

ARTWORK