The Met Unveils Huge Facade Sculptures by Liu Wei

Since the late 1990s, Liu Wei (BFA, 1996, oil painting, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou) has addressed the realities of our time through a wide range of media—including photography, painting, video, sculpture, and installation. A key figure of a pioneering generation of artists from China who sought to define “conceptual art” on their own terms against the backdrop of rapid societal transformation, Liu has developed an oeuvre that challenges art historical tropes of abstraction, figuration, and the readymade. Known for his virtuosic command of sites and scale, he reconfigures fragments from the urban environment, historical sources, and bodily forms to create sculptural installations that evoke awe and agitation. With a sense of urgency, his work captures and critiques the reoccurring conflicts and contradictions in society with which we must contend.

The Genesis Facade Commission at The Met is Liu’s first major presentation in the United States, following solo exhibitions in important museums in Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Cleveland in the past decade. He has been featured in prestigious and historic group exhibitions, including the inaugural China Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005); Shanghai Biennial (2004, 2010); Lyon Biennale (2007, 2015); Sharjah Biennial (2013); Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World, Guggenheim Museum, New York, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2018); The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2019); and the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), among others. Liu lives and works in Beijing, China.

Main Image: Image: Liu Wei (Chinese, born 1972), Installation view Speculation / G, 2026. Fiberglass composite, steel, bronze, aluminum alloy, bovine rawhide, iron chain, and polyurethane paint. Courtesy the artist. Image credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo by Hyla Skopitz