OLYMPICS /
Cultural Olympics
Inspired by a princess
By Lin Qi
Updated: 2008-08-29 09:43
Li Wei was born in the 1970s, when Chinese people lived a barren cultural life.
There were two things that fascinated him most against that gray background - the colorful figurines made of sticky rice and the local opera that always started at sunset.
One day Li stole his father's money to buy a rice opera figurine, a Chinese princess with fancy plumes attached to her head. He hid it in the reeds behind his house but he couldn't find it a few days later. The princess became a dream he has since been pursuing with his brushes.
"When I spray colored mud on canvas and create different opera characters, I feel like I am living my childhood dreams again," he says.
Li's Harmony: East and West exhibition is his third solo oil show themed on Peking Opera characters. His work has portrayed a Chinese sense of righteousness, bluntness and refinement, and been a favor of Peking Opera performers, enthusiasts and art collectors alike.
Born in Shandong, Li graduated from the Art Department of Shandong Normal University in 1992 and completed a Master's Degree at Capital Normal University in 1997. He now teaches at Art Department of Zaozhuang College in Shandong.
10 am-5 pm, until Sept 1
Guanyintang Exhibition Hall of Beijing Wan Fung Art Gallery, 32 Guanyintang Art Avenue, 2A Wangsiying, Chaoyang district
6738-9901