Arrow Factory is pleased to present a new work by Beijing artist Liu Wei that continues the artist’s ongoing engagement with games of visual and conceptual alchemy. In Void, Liu’s signature exploration of matter, substance and flux merges with the monotonous setting of the hutong. In this comprehensive architectural intervention, Arrow Factory’s façade and interiors are transformed into a black hole that plays with human visual perception in that it represents both negation of space while positing space as object of visual contemplation. The seemingly vacuous cavity is an abyss that recedes into nothingness, thus producing the uncanny result of rendering the hutong surroundings more visibly present than ever.  

Liu Wei (b. 1972, Beijing) is a conceptual artist whose works span across multiple mediums and forms, from installation to painting to video and beyond. His work uses the materiality of everyday objects to explore urban existence, material flux, decay, demolition, and construction. The roots of Void can be traced to his earlier work entitled Dark Matter (2008) in which Liu wrapped everyday objects in form-fitting black duvatine shrouds, rendering the items as abstract forms. Reconfiguring the detritus of daily life into visual abstractions of geometric forms and patterns, his satirical and humorous works have been exhibited extensively, including the 4th Guangzhou Triennial (2012), Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2011), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010), Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2010), and the 51st Venice Biennale (2005).

Courtesy of Arrow Factory