GUO JIAN & GUAN WEI Feature in Upcoming Panel Discussion at Nation Art School

Tides of Change: In Our Time Artists' Panel Discussion

Join us for an engaging conversation with artists Guan Wei and Guo Jian, both renowned Chinese-born artists living in Australia, as they discuss their significant bodies of work featured in the exhibition "IN OUR TIME."

They'll be joined by Dr. Luise Guest, a writer, curator, and education specialist, and Professor Jing Han, Director of the Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts & Culture at the University of Western Sydney.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

12 - 1 PM

GUO JIAN and GUAN WEI featured in "In Our Time" at the National Art School, Sydney

GUO JIAN and GUAN WEI shine bright in "IN OUR TIME: FOUR DECADES OF ART FROM CHINA AND BEYOND THE GEOFF RABY COLLECTION" at the National Art School in partnership with La Trobe Art Institute. This exhibition is on display until March 30th.

Over a 35-year period beginning in the mid-1980s, Australian economist and diplomat Dr Geoff Raby AO assembled an outstanding art collection of artworks by more than 75 artists working in both China and in Australia, as members of the Chinese diaspora. "In Our Time" presents a selection of works from this special collection, now part of the La Trobe University Art Collection.

Installation view of “IN OUR TIME: FOUR DECADES OF ART FROM CHINA AND BEYOND THE GEOFF RABY COLLECTION"

'GUAN WEI: Out of The Ordinary' Opens at Vermillion Art

Guan Wei, 'Ocean 1', 2013, bronze, edition of 5, 35 x 49 x 33 cm.

'GUAN WEI: Out of the Ordinary' has just opened at Vermillion Art in Sydney.

This exhibition is a selection of Guan Wei’s work over the last 12 years. In the ancient Chinese calendar, 12 years is one Ji (一纪 ). It also refers to sufficient time for a major journey. Guan Wei has imbued his works with a profound sense of mystery and wonder. He entices us to go beyond the ordinary, with him on this brilliant odyssey.

The exhibition continues until 16 March.

GUAN WEI's 'Big Mouse Kingdom' on display at Chau Chak Wing Museum

Guan Wei, 'Big Mouse Kingdom', 2005, acrylic on canvas.

GUAN WEI's major work, 'Big Mouse Kingdom', is currently on display at Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney, as part of 'The Sherman Gift'. 

In 2021, the Museum received a generous gift of artworks from the collection of Dr Gene Sherman AM and the late Brian Sherman AM. The exhibition features these works and explores Gene and Brian's life of cultural engagement. 

SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY 2022

Welcome to ARC ONE at SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY

From today will be showing a selection of major artworks from some of Australia's most significant contemporary practitioners, including PAT BRASSINGTON, LYNDELL BROWN / CHARLES GREEN, PETER DAVERINGTON, MURRAY FREDERICKS, JANET LAURENCE, HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT, DANI MARTI, JULIE RRAP, IMANTS TILLERS, GUAN WEI, CATHERINE WOO, and JOHN YOUNG. We are also proud to be presenting, for the first time, the work of internationally acclaimed artist DESMOND LAZARO.

Our booth is showcasing brand new artworks, alongside some of the most iconic works from ARC ONE Gallery, in celebration of these artists and their significant contribution to contemporary art in this country.

GUAN WEI and GUO JIAN at BENDIGO ART GALLERY

Guan Wei, Water view no. 15 2011, synthetic polymer paint on canvas. La Trobe University, Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art. Image courtesy the artist and ARC ONE © the artist. Photo: Jia De

GUAN WEI and GUO JIAN are included in the forthcoming exhibition ‘In Our Time: Four decades of art from China and beyond - the Geoff Raby Collection’ curated by Latrobe Art Institute.

Opening on 20 August, the exhibition features 70 pieces from the collection of Australian economist and diplomat Dr Geoff Raby AO, with works that address a range of themes from urban life, Chinese philosophy and cultural difference to social justice, human rights and nationhood.

GUAN WEI on display at THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

GUAN WEI, 2002, Synthetic polymer paint on 48 canvases, 317 x 913 cm.

GUAN WEI’s beautiful painting ‘Dow: Island’ (2002) is now on display in The National Gallery of Australia’s Australian art collection.

“When people are thinking about global things they must draw a map. The map is very important to human thinking . . . The work is like a big history that includes ancient animals and human migrations and the situation of refugees in the present.” – Guan Wei

GUAN WEI invited to participate in the Gold Award 2022

Image: Portrait of Guan Wei, 2006, for his mural painting at Powerhouse Museum Sydney.

Congratulations to GUAN WEI, who is one of eight artists who have been invited to participate in the Gold Award 2022, Queensland’s richest art prize. The artists invited in the Gold Award 2022 will form one of the exhibitions scheduled to coincide with the official opening of the newly constructed Rockhampton Museum of Art.

The artworks will be on public display from 25 February 2022 to 15 May 2022, with the winner announced 26 February.

The Gold Award is a joint initiative of the Rockhampton Museum of Art Philanthropy Board, Rockhampton Museum of Art and Rockhampton Regional Council.

CONGRATULATIONS GUAN WEI

Congratulations to GUAN WEI who has just been awarded a Doctor of Creative Arts (honoris causa) by Western Sydney University.

This Honorary Doctorate recognises GUAN WEI for his significant contribution to the visual arts at a local, state, national and international level.

Portrait of Guan Wei in his studio

Portrait of Guan Wei in his studio

GUAN WEI'S 'A DIGITAL AGE' AT ARC ONE

Revered contemporary artist Guan Wei returns to Melbourne this May with a spectacular new exhibition of paintings titled A Digital Age.

Guan Wei’s latest exhibition at ARC ONE Gallery presents three bodies of work: A Digital Age, a suite of paintings laden with philosophical meaning, The Metamorphosis, a video work depicting migration, identity, and notions of boundaries and place, and Cosmotheoria, a major 42-panel work which explores our individual and collective knowledge.

In A Digital Age, Guan Wei examines the realities of contemporary life and our relationship to, and increasing reliance on, numbers, symbols and signs. In the face of increasing alienation, digitalisation, virtual reality, and global change, this body of work invites us to reflect on our humanity:

“Numbers which represent highly abstract symbols are present in philosophies, religions, sciences, arts and cultures throughout human history. The information embodied in numbers has been absorbed in our genetic make-up. We recognise the capability and power of numbers by intuition. Numbers embody codes of information from ancient times, for example, dualism, the Trinity, four elements of nature, and the Chinese wisdom of the sixth day of the sixth month, the list goes on. The advance of modern digital technology is mind-boggling. The binary numeral system, Big Data, the Internet, and so on, are all about digitalisation which has intruded into every corner of our lives. Have digits become the essence of humankind? Yuval Noah Harari in his book ‘Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow’ questions, “Are organisms really just algorithms, and is life really just data processing?” – Guan Wei, 2021

Such themes are similarly explored in the key work Cosmotheoria. The title is drawn from a Latin term for “world-view” and considers the ways in which the known and unknown are constantly changing. Our knowledge and understanding of the immense universe, but also of nations, societies, others, civilisations, history and geography are constantly in flux, varying throughout time and place. In this work, Guan Wei has merged eastern and western philosophies, art histories, eras and empires, signs and symbols, using, as the artist explains, ‘a kind of magic collage, with an oriental perspective, to confuse the viewing point’. Representative images from different cultures are extracted and placed in the same painting to create an imaginary cross-cultural realm that explores contemporary issues and an up-to-date view of the world.

With his consummate ability to create work at once light in tone and profound in message, Guan Wei finds a higher order of expression in these beautifully produced paintings and video work. Interlaced with the artist’s emblematic clouds and iconic characters and motifs, the works in this exhibition are powerfully drawn together through a material and metaphysical exploration of human life.

Guan Wei, Cosmotheoria, 2017, acrylic on linen, 42 panels, 282 x 750 cm

Guan Wei, Cosmotheoria, 2017, acrylic on linen, 42 panels, 282 x 750 cm

Guan Wei was born 1957, Beijing, China, and lives and works in Beijing and Sydney. He has won many awards, including the 2015 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery; Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2002; and was selected for the prestigious 2009 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award, National Gallery of Victoria. In 2018 The Australian Tapestry Workshop completed ‘Treasure Hunt’, a tapestry designed by Guan Wei and woven by Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce, Jennifer Sharpe and Cheryl Thornton. Solo exhibitions include: Guan Wei: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2019; Chivalry, ARC ONE Gallery, Melbourne, 2018; Cosmotheoria, White Box Art Center 798 Art District Beijing, 2017; Guan. Perspective, Scene Sense Art Gallery, Beijing, 2017; Salvation, ARC ONE Gallery 2016; Archaeology, ARC ONE Gallery, 2014; Spellbound, He Xiang Ning Art Museum, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China, 2011; The Enchantment, ARC ONE Gallery, 2012; Other histories: Guan Wei’s fable for a contemporary world, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, 2006–07; Looking, Greene St Studio, New York, 2003; Zen Garden, Sherman Contemporary, Sydney, 2000; and Nesting, or the Art of Idleness 1989–1999, MCA, Sydney, 1999. Major group exhibitions include: Between Two Worlds, Newcastle Art Gallery, 2019; Between the Moon and the Stars, Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, 2019; The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes exhibition, AGNSW, Sydney, 2017; Closing the Distance, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Bundoora, Victoria, 2017; Borders, Barriers, Walls, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2016; Collaborative Witness: Artists responding to the plight of the refugee, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 2011; Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai Museum, China, 2010; 10th Havana Biennial, Cuba, 2009; The China Project, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2009; Handle with Care, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Adelaide, 2008; Face Up: Contemporary Art from Australia, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum, Berlin, 2003–04; Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, 2002; Osaka Triennial, Japan, 2001; Man and Space, Kwangju Biennale, South Korea, 2000; Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1999.

Guan Wei, No. 10, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 87 x 46 cm

Guan Wei, No. 10, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 87 x 46 cm

SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY GOES LIVE ONLINE

Sydney Contemporary is taking a different shape this year. From tomorrow, the art fair will be live online for the entire month of October!

ARC ONE Gallery will be featuring new works by PETER DAVERINGTON, MURRAY FREDERICKS, HONEY LONG & PRUE STENT, JACKY REDGATE and GUAN WEI.

This year’s art fair is free to browse! The SC Team have worked tirelessly to build a custom platform to connect artists & galleries with the arts community.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

VIP Preview: 1 October 10am
Public Viewing: 1 October 2pm

Visit the fair HERE!

GUAN WEI’S tapestry Treasure Hunt is currently on display at the Australian Tapestry Workshop. In this tapestry, Guan Wei references navigation, exploration, migration and the influence of globalisation through the fable of admiral Zheng He.

Admiral Zheng He led a legendary fleet of “treasure ships” which sailed to foreign lands in the early 1400s, creating new nautical maps and collecting rare spices, treasures, birds and animals. The ‘Treasure Hunt’ tapestry represents the flora and fauna Zheng He might have encountered in his travels, including sea monsters drawn from Chinese and European mythology. The land shapes in the design reference 14th century Chinese maps and the Chinese symbols for East and West and the names of mountains have been painted in. Each smaller drawing within the work also has a significance within European or Asian history.

The design is inspired by a large painted mural from Guan Wei's exhibition Other Histories at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney in 2006. The tapestry was shown at ARC ONE for his 2018 solo exhibition Chivalry, and will remain on display at the ATW until 6 November 2020.

Treasure Hunt, 2017, Guan Wei, woven by Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce, Jennifer Sharpe and Cheryl Thornton, wool and cotton, 0.864m x 3.6m. Photo by Jeremy Weihrauch.

Treasure Hunt, 2017, Guan Wei, woven by Chris Cochius, Pamela Joyce, Jennifer Sharpe and Cheryl Thornton, wool and cotton, 0.864m x 3.6m. Photo by Jeremy Weihrauch.

GUAN WEI STUDIO VISIT IN LOOK MAGAZINE

Photographed by Felicity Jenkins

Photographed by Felicity Jenkins

GUAN WEI is interviewed by Miriam Cosic for the latest edition of AGNSW’s Look Magazine. 

The artist was visited in his home studio in Sydney’s south-west. He talks about dividing his time between Sydney and Beijing, where his studio is twenty times the size. Asked where he feels he belongs, he ums and ahs, chuckles, and says, “Maybe I just belong to myself. And my family.”

Guan Wei’s work Revisionary (1998) is showing in the AGNSW’s exhibition In one drop of water, and two of his new porcelain pieces are in their show Under the Stars. 

GUAN WEI AT CASULA POWERHOUSE

GUAN WEI has co-curated Pulse of the Dragon at Casula Powerhouse. His immense work from 2017 Cosmotheoria is featured in the exhibition.

Pulse of the Dragon is an exhibition emphasising themes of religious witchcraft, mythology, folk art and folk culture as methods for opening up understandings and perspectives of Chinese culture. It features a dynamic line-up of Chinese and Chinese-Australian artists who approach these concepts from their local and international perspectives. 

The exhibition continues until 19 April.

More information >

Guan Wei, Cosmotheoria, 2017, acrylic on linen, 282 x 750cm, (1-42 panels, 6cm gap between each panel)

Guan Wei, Cosmotheoria, 2017, acrylic on linen, 282 x 750cm, (1-42 panels, 6cm gap between each panel)

GUAN WEI: A CASE STUDY

Guan Wei, Salvation No.1, 2015, bronze, 33 x 19 x 32 cm

Guan Wei, Salvation No.1, 2015, bronze, 33 x 19 x 32 cm

The MAC (Museum of Art & Culture Lake Macquarie) has just opened Guan Wei: A Case Study - an exhibition of Guan Wei's work with an accompanying case-study publication geared specifically towards Year 12 Visual Arts students. 

The exhibition runs until 5 April. 

More information >

GUO JIAN | CYRUS TANG | GUAN WEI | JOHN YOUNG

Not one, but four ARC ONE artists are included in the exhibition Between Two Worlds at Newcastle Art Gallery. GUO JIAN, CYRUS TANG, GUAN WEI & JOHN YOUNG are featured.

Between Two Worlds aims to promote the diversity of works of art being produced by Australian artists of Chinese heritage. The exhibition acknowledges the artists who have lived, worked and are connected to China and Australia through migration, major historical events and Australia’s agricultural and industrial developments.

On the opening Saturday, GUO JIAN will join a panel discussion that introduces the exhibition’s themes, along with curator Catherine Croll and fellow exhibiting artists Rowena Foong & Peter Gardiner.

This talk will run from 2 -3 pm on Saturday 16 November.

More information >

GUAN WEI

Guan Wei, Return to the Origin, 2014, ceramic, 41 x 30 cm.

Guan Wei, Return to the Origin, 2014, ceramic, 41 x 30 cm.

GUAN WEI is currently exhibiting a collection of works from his own personal collection at ACIAC Gallery, in a show called Essence, Energy, Spirit.

The Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture (ACIAC) is committed to enhancing cultural exchange between Australia, China, and the Sinosphere. This exhibition interlaces imagery from Guan Wei’s Chinese heritage, his life experience in Australia and his personal iconography. It reminds us of the consequences of a fast-paced, technology-driven, western lifestyle, which can be transcended if we remember our essence, energy and spirit and how to nurture them.

The exhibition continues until 21 February.

More information >

GUAN WEI

THE MCA has just opened Guan Wei: MCA Collection, an exhibition of works by GUAN WEI from the MCA Collection.

This exhibition brings together four works from the MCA Collection; ranging from significant suites of early works on paper, which look at life and the political landscape in China in the late 1980s, through to the large-scale mural painting Feng Shui, which is concerned with a harmonious relationship between all living things and the planet. The more recent Paper War, comprising of animated video and an accompanying work on paper, explores war as an experience mediated and understood through symbols and signs.

Over the past 30 years artist Guan Wei has developed a distinctive style and personal language of symbols and metaphors that explore his Chinese cultural heritage and many influences of the West. Working across painting, sculpture and site-specific installation, his reflections upon the human condition engage with critical contemporary issues, including climate change, questions of identity, migration and exile.

The exhibition continues until 9 February 2020.

More information >

The Guardian review by Joanna Mendelssohn > (also appears in The Conversation)

The Australian review by Nicholas Jose >

Sydney Morning Herald review by John McDonald >

Arts Hub review by Gina Fairley >

GUAN WEI

GUAN WEI's large-scale work Revisionary is in the Art Gallery of New South Wales' new exhibition In one drop of water.

Drawing on rich and diverse works of art, primarily from the AGNSW collection, this exhibition explores the poetic, symbolic and social significance of water in Asian art. Revisionary is dominated by an aqueous bright blue plane, symbolising both the heavens and the ocean. The artist has referred to this work as representing a form of last judgement.

The exhibition continues until December 2020.

More information >

Guan Wei, Revisionary, 1998, 26 panels, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, dimensions variable.

Guan Wei, Revisionary, 1998, 26 panels, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, dimensions variable.