28 Chinese

Liberation No. 1
2013
by Liu Wei (Chinese, b. 1972)
Oil on canvas

Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami.
© Liu Wei.

Liu Wei used computer software to generate the patterns of this composition. He directed his studio assistants to paint in the colors. As the artist explains, "The computer is like a big brain that is constantly thinking, and I am only organizing. . . . It is just pure logic into color." Yet the impact of his monumental painting suggests that there is more than a mechanical process going on. The result is architectural, connecting the composition to the experience of China's dense urban landscapes.

"In painting, sculpture, and installation, I give shape to the world around us, offering an acute visual commentary on underlying ideologies. My works have no specific meaning—this is left for the audience to decide. But they wipe a layer of dust from the surface of reality, forcing it to expose its true face. Reality exists independently of politics, ideology, and philosophy." —Liu Wei