Photography

Item Description

Shen Wei (Chinese, b. 1977)
"We Are Here Just For You" (Red), Chongqing, 2009, printed 2012
Chromogenic print
Image: 16 x 20 inches on 20 x 24 inch paper
Edition: 1/8
Signed and dated on back in pencil

Shen Wei is a fine art photographer currently based in New York City. In 2007, Silver Eye exhibited work from his series Almost Naked, which critic Aaron Schuman described as "a strikingly accomplished balance of raw intimacy and formal intensity, seldom found in contemporary photographic portraiture."

This evocative, poetic image is one of many taken by Shen when he returned to China, visiting many Chinese provinces as well as in Shanghai, where he was born 34 years ago. It is published in Shen's first monograph, Chinese Sentiment, edited by Lesley A. Martin, publisher of the Aperture Foundation book program, and featuring an introduction by Peter Hessler, staff writer and former Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker.

In his review for Photo-Eye, Adam Bell praised Chinese Sentiment "for avoiding the jingoistic and sensationalist tenor of recent books...Instead, Shen presents a beautiful dream fugue about contemporary China in the throes of tumultuous change that even its populace hasn't quite fully comprehended."

About The Artist

Shen Wei has exhibited nationally and internationally, with venues including the Museum of the City of New York, Griffin Museum of Photography, Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall, the Harn Museum of Art and the Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. His photographs have been featured in publications such as The New Yorker, Aperture, American Photo, Chinese Photography, PDN and Life Magazine China.

His work is featured in many private and public collections including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), J. Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, Library of Congress, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Museum of Chinese in America, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Kinsey Institute.

The artist holds an MFA in photography, video, and related media from the School of Visual Arts, New York; a BFA in photography from Minneapolis College of Art and Design; and a BA in decorative arts from Shanghai Light Industry College.