15th century Chinese landscapes, Renaissance figures, and ordinary objects are the main motifs found in Wei Dong's work. Individually, these motifs reflect the artist's faithful observations of traditional style or everyday life; but in concert, they generate new and peculiar meanings. One might say that Wei Dong adopts a mocking tone in his scramble of subjects: traditional landscapes, nudes, handcuffs, bitter melon and arrows. According to the artist, however, they are merely reflections of contemporary society where sex, violence, and popular culture dominate traditional mores. For instance, Wei Dong doesn't hesitate to depict androgynous figures represented as P.L.A soldiers or archangels dancing above and amidst majestic Ming landscapes. This androgyny might suggest the common exploitation of the body, particularly sexual organs, inferring that in contemporary society, the identity of male and female no longer carries particular significance. At times, these figures become even more revealing and controversial because of their intense facial expressions, sado-masochistic gestures, or curious placement in the composition.

Beneath the seemingly derisive surface of the painting, Wei Dong reveals his profound and private world. Despite the apparent contradictions between things traditional and western, ancient and contemporary techniques and values, the world that Wei Dong creates always possesses some sort of coherence and harmony. The figures' intense expressions and enormous scale dominate the subtle landscapes as the artist tries to reverse the "normal" relationship between the two. Yet within this reverse order emerge a new set of rules and logic. The contrast of styles and colours focuses the attention on the figures that exist only in their relationship with the background, their attitudes, positions, and movement being entirely dependant on the configuration of the landscape. The artist claims the world he depicts is normal and natural - perhaps his body of work will force us to re-evaluate our view of the world.

EXHIBITIONS

1998

1999