Pu Yingwei
Pu Yingwei, (b.1989), Lives and works in Beijing, China. Pu received his BFA from Sichuan Fine art Institute in 2013, DNSEP (MFA with Félicitation du jury) from École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon in 2018. As an active contributor to the new generation of conceptual art, Pu Yingwei has creatively inherited and developed the visual and ideological lineage of socialist art and early Chinese avant-garde art, with his practice spanning painting, writing, designing, curating and lecturing, thus forming the unique language system and historical perspective.
His work has been involved in institutions such as Walker Art Gallery (Liverpool), Nouvel Institut Franco-Chinois (Lyon), Power Station of Art (Shanghai), He Art Museum, OCAT Museums, and Taikang Space. His work has been included in the 13th Shanghai Biennale and the Caen Film Festival. He was awarded the John Moore Painting Prize and his article “Empire’s Legacy” won the International Awards for Art Criticism Prize, and was selected for the Gen.T Asian Emerging Pioneers list, “HuaYu Youth Award”，“China Art power 100”, “Jimei·Arles Discovery Reward” and Porsche “Young Chinese Artist of the Year” Award. Pu Yingwei’s works are widely collected by institutions and important collectors such as the KADIST, the Star Museum, He Art Museum, Sifang Art Museum, Guangdong Museum of Ar, the Longlati Foundation, ASE Foundation, Art Pioneer Studio, Song Art Museum, Chaoqing Art Foundation, CC Foundation, Arario Museum.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
A Study In Scarlet: The Re-origin Of Revolutionary Realism, MAMOTH, London, 2021;
Obscure Adventure – Speculative Pop & Pan-Chinesism, SSSSTART (Start Museum Research Center), Shanghai, 2021;
Photoethic: CHINAFRICA, Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival, 2020;
Time, History, Why We Fight, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2020;
Pu Yingwei and Chinese Capital, MadeInGallery, Shanghai, 2020;
Pu Yingwei 1989, Organhaus, Chongqing, 2019;
Double Empire, Nouvel Institut Franco- Chinois, Lyon, 2018;
If only it were true, Galerie Sator, Paris, 2018;
Pu Yingwei and Jim Thompson Architects, J: GALLERY, Shanghai, 2017;
Roman Nomade, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2017.
Selected Group Exhibitions
ON | OFF 2021:Carousel of Progress, He Art Museum, Shunde, 2022;
The Disconnected Generation, Song Art Museum, Beijing, 2022;
13th Shanghai Biennale: Bodies of Water, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2021;
Circular Impact: Video Art 21, OCAT Shanghai, Shanghai, 2021;
An Archive Seven Trails, Taikang Space, Beijing, 2020;
Those who see and know all, are all and can do all, 798 Art Center, Beijing, 2020;
Being of Evils, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2020;
Dance With It, Taikang Space, Beijing, 2018;
The Comfort Zone At A Distance, Taikang Space – Light Pavilion, Beijing, 2018;
Frontier: Re-assessment of Post – Globalisational Politics, OCAT Shanghai/OCAT Institute, Shanghai/Beijing , 2017-2018;
Fiction Art, OCAT Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 2018;
I Do (not) Want To Be Part Of Your Celebration, Qiao Space & TANK Shanghai Project Space, Shanghai, 2017;
Reciprocal Enlightenment, CAFA, Beijing, 2017;
Liverpool Biennial 2012 – John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery | National Museums Liverpool, Liverpool, 2012.
Dam Theatre – I Want to Be Modern
Pu Yingwei, Video, Single Channel, Color,
Sound 23’11”, 2020-2021.
Piece Description
This video artwork focuses on the artist’s uncle, Li Guiping, a Chinese water conservancy engineer who led the construction of the Karimenu Phase 2 Dam project in Kenya, as part of China’s aid to Africa. At the same time, ‘Chinafrica’ also resonates with the artist’s long-term response to their own upbringing and identity background.
Both themes respond to the significant impact of China’s unprecedented power in the world today, and how someone with first-hand experience will judge and construct their own identity in this context. The main narrative of the video, titled Dam Theater, outlines various perspectives on ‘Chinafrica’ in the current context throughout a twenty-minute duration.
We view scenes gleaned from interviews with individuals who have had direct experiences with Africa, mainstream media in China, social media content, and scenes produced by the artist.
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