Well-trained in classical oil painting, Wang was first exposed to Western contemporary art in the 1990s. He was captivated by what he saw and went on to assemble collages of iconic conceptual art that expresses his impression of contemporary art history. On the left of this collage is French American artist Marcel Duchamp’s Self-Portrait in Profile (1959). In the middle, on the black, furry ball, British artist Mat Collishaw’s Bullet Hole (1988) looks like a gaping red wound, while American artist Man Ray’s photograph of Duchamp is shaped like a bald star. On the right is the profile of a pig from an advertisement American artist Jeff Koons published in an art magazine.
Wang Xingwei (born 1969, Shenyang) graduated from the Fine Art Department of Shenyang Normal University in 1990. In the early 1990s, he pioneered a painting style linking visual references from Chinese and Western visual art and historical practices, producing works that draw on theatricality and kitsch performativity. Wang lives and works in Beijing.