Artist Assessment 1

Photographer Li Wei

Li wei was born in Hubie, China and is a contemporary artist known for his self portraits of gravity defying work in which he use mirrors to create an illusion.

Lei Wei Copyright

Early in his life he studied at a private arts school but later left as the schools traditional methods of teaching grew tiresome. Li Wei started as an independent artist painting, in 1999 he picked up  a new passion in performance art which later culminated into photography which he recorded through his performance art.

When first i saw Li Wei's work i was amazed and intrigued as to how he created his work, initially i thought he used computer but later found out he uses mirrors, wires, scaffolding and acrobats.
Before i made any kind of interpretation i noticed elements of colour, movement, shape and texture in his work.

One thing that Li projects in his work is danger, and the reality is he put his life at risk capturing his work from shots on high buildings, lakes and iceholes.

I presented this written work to my college class explaining my opinions on what Li Wei's work communicates, the photo of Wei hanging from the noose sparked a debate on this piece of work. My view was that it represented wanting freedom but being bound by our fear and comforts, the class tutor set a task in extending on Wei's work by constructing our own piece of work relating to the artists message.

More of Li Wei's work