new works by li wei

artist li wei flying in a puff of jetsmoke all images © li wei

chinese artist li wei has continued fusing performance art and photography to create works that comment on religion, love and the swiss landscape. all of the images are real, since wei uses very minimal post-production manipulation. scaffolding and wires hold the models in place while mirrors help with the optical illusions. instead of staying behind the lens, wei is often found in his photographs, usually in a gravity defying pose. in his latest series, the artist juxtaposes some of his figures with flying helicopters and speeding trains in an interesting conflation of time, space, and human capability, even as other photographs feature a buddha standing upright on water (thanks to a surfboard) or propelling skyward in a haze of colourful jetsmoke.

balancing on a large fork stabbed into the floor of a lake

‘buddha 2011.08.28’, st. moritz switzerland, edition 6 

‘st. moritz’, st. moritz switzerland, edition 6  

‘fly together’, st. moritz, switzerland, edition 6   126 x 192 cm

‘CRH’, beijing, edition 6 89 x 518 cm

‘meet on a bridge of magpies’, beijing, edition 6 155 x 232.5 cm

‘love 2011.01.01’ beijing, edition 6 126 x 192 cm

‘loss of impulse’, beijing, edition 6 126 x 192 cm

‘magic legs’, beijing, edition 6 155 x 155 cm

(right) ‘love 2011.05.08’, beijing, edition 6, 126 x 192 cm (left) ‘leaves 1’, beijing, edition 6, 155 x 232.5 cm 

(right) ‘parallax’, beiging, edition 6., 126 x 192 cm (left) ‘2011.07.06’, beijing, edition 6, 126 x 192 cm

‘v-space – st. moritz’, st. moritz, switzerland, edition 6   126 x 192 cm

‘love 2011.05.31’, beijing, edition 6 126 x 192 cm