Befall - The Light Is Frozen and Wrapped Around the Statue Filled with Gas
The fear of the unknown descends at this moment, like an immense, invisible organism inverted and suspended above the space. It radiates countless beams of white light, piercing into the consciousness of every living being, seducing and corroding each host. Within the few remaining pockets of space, beings are relentlessly disciplined, dismantled, and reforged — reduced to slaves and the residual artifacts of a so-called evolved civilization. Ultimately, they are discarded into the ruins, where they grind against one another, ignite, and burn until they are reduced to ash.
Yang Wei was born in November 1984 in Shenyang and graduated from the Sculpture Department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. He is currently based in Beijing. His artistic practice spans across multiple media, including installation, sculpture, sound, and painting. Much of his work is motivated by reflections on real-life situations and historical memory. Beneath the aesthetic surface he constructs lies a subtle poetic sensibility, distilled from personal experience and literature. Through an exploration of material and discourse, Yang Wei builds narrative scenarios that present viewers with a disquieting and illusory reality—serving as a metaphor for the wildness of the world we inhabit and the ultimate fate of the individual.
Awards
2020 — Winner of the John Moores Painting Prize, United Kingdom
Solo Exhibitions (2008–2024)
THE X-GAME, Saisen Art Space, Shanghai
Burn to Ashes, Saisen Art Space, Shanghai
Regarding The Silent Majority, Pékin Fine Arts, Hong Kong
Yang Wei Art Project in Church Space, Being 3 Gallery, Beijing
Got Used to Consume Today's Achievement with Achievement Habitually, Yan Club Arts Center, Beijing
Romance in a Humble Moment, Yan Club Arts Center, Beijing
Tell Me Haow To Be Sad, Yan Club Arts Center, Beijing
Disorder Symphonic projects in the world, First Live Art Space, Guangzhou China
Selected Group Exhibitions (2008–2023)
John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool, UK
John Moores Painting Prize Residency Program, ERL, John Lennon School of Art and Design Building, Liverpool, UK
Young Curators Season, Palais de Tokyo, France
Gwangju Biennale – 10,000 Lives, Gwangju Museum of Art, South Korea
FLUX ZONE, BLANK Gallery, Shanghai
BRC Utopia, BRC Space, Beijing
Materiality and Intuition, Jinhua Art Museum, Jinhua
The Infallible Interior: The Third Tour of the Exhibition "Notes for Tomorrow", Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing
John Moores Painting Prize (China), Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai
John Moores Painting Prize (Touring Exhibition), Sichuan Art Museum, Chengdu
Tongxi · The 3rd China Invitational Art Forum & Exhibition on Installation Art, Today Art Museum, Beijing
"Finding Friends" – Discover Young Sculpture Artists, Today Art Museum, Beijing
Keep the Modern Going: Immersion, Awaiting and ldealism, OCAT Shenzhen, Shenzhen
New Works, OCAT Shenzhen, Shenzhen
Likeness of a Thought, Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing
MEMO II, White Space, Beijing
