Congratulations to Guan Wei, who has been presented the Creative Australia Award for Visual Arts 2024. A recognition of an incredible career, this major award acknowledges the achievements of an artist who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to Australian art.
Guan Wei has been living and working between Beijing, China and Sydney Australia since 1989. Guan Wei is an iconic figure in the Australian contemporary art scene and critically acclaimed internationally. Through his art, he reflects upon the human condition as we engage with critical contemporary issues, such as climate change, questions of identity, migration and exile. Guan Wei has held over 80 solo exhibitions in Australia and internationally from the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney to OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT) Shenzhen China and has been included in countless group exhibitions from South Korea to Cuba.
GUAN WEI shortlisted in Calleen Art Award
CALLEEN ART AWARD 2024
Congratulations to Guan Wei, who has been selected as a finalist in the Calleen Art Award 2024! Hosted by the Cowra Regional Art Gallery, the annual Calleen Art Award was established in 1977 as an acquisitive art prize by Mrs Patricia Fagan OAM, to encourage originality, creativity and excellence in the visual arts.
Guan Wei's entry 'Fluidity of Time and Space No. 2' (2023) depicts an an impossible courtyard. As we step inside its walls, the inhabitants, seemingly engaged in mysterious courtship rituals, stop dead in their tracks.
The winner will be announced at the exhibition opening on Friday 27 September 2024, to be judged by Mr Richard Perram OAM, Curator and former director Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.
CALLEEN ART AWARD 2024.
📅 27 September to 17 November 2024
📍Cowra Regional Art Gallery
GUAN WEI
Fluidity of Time and Space No. 2, 2023
Acrylic on canvas (diptych)
98 x 87 cm
GUAN WEI Shortlisted for Sulman Prize
📣 GUAN WEI has just been announced as a finalist in the Sulman Prize 2024 with his work, Off to the Space, (2024).
The artist writes, "recently, ChatGPT has received a lot of attention. The web-based platform is designed to provide human-like conversational experiences. Will this new technology change the world? This painting presents an AI robot with a face resembling a human’s. Its right eye is the sun, its left eye is the moon, while its mouth is a flying constellation made from a human body. On its cheeks, we see a bolt of lightning, the Southern Cross, traces of cosmic rays and antenna interfaces. On its forehead are the solar system and Cygnus.
This painting attempts to depict a world of artificial intelligence in which inorganic life has replaced organic life. Leaving Earth, the ark of mankind moves into space, looking for a new home."
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A big congratulations Guan Wei 🥂
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The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2024 exhibition is open from 8 June to 8 September at The Art Gallery of New South Wales.
IMAGE: Guan Wei, Off to the Space, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 162 x 306 cm (12 panels).
GUAN WEI Commission for Vivid Sydney
VIVID SYDNEY
Guan Wei has been commissioned to transform the Museum of Contemporary Art's façade during Vivid Sydney, in a nightly light projection.
Experience Sea, Sand and Stars, displayed on the Museum's façade every evening during Vivid Sydney until 11pm, beginning this Friday, 24 May.
GUAN WEI: Sea, Sand and Stars
📅 24 May - 15 June 2024, 6–11pm daily
📍Museum of Contemporary Art Australia |
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Guan Wei's Sea, Sand and Stars will feature twinkling stars, ocean waves and marvellous creatures, taking audiences from the depths of the ocean to the constellations in the night sky
Over the last 35 years, influential Chinese Australian artist Guan Wei has created artworks that consider what it means to be human, drawing on his experiences and observations of life in Australia and China. The artist has worked with Spinifex Group to create his first light projection, which follows the course of a day, beginning with the appearance of the morning star.
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 and GUO JIAN in 'Our Journeys | Our Stories'
GUAN WEI and GUO JIAN feature in a new exhibition 'Our Journeys| Our Stories' at Hurstville Museum and Gallery.
The exhibition explores the Chinese migration history of the Georges River area, interweaving social and cultural history with the work of contemporary Chinese-Australian artists.
Available to view until 24 July 2022
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
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 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
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.
GUAN WEI STUDIO VISIT IN LOOK MAGAZINE
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.
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
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.