Wei Ligang

Biography

Wei Ligang
(born in 1964, Datong, China)

Currently showing at the gallery, Ailleurs est ici

Talented calligraphist and true mathematics genius, Wei Ligang entirely dedicated himself to calligraphy after he  graduated in 1985 and later, in 1988, became a professor of calligraphy at the Teacher?s Training School in Taiyuan. Then, he decided to devote himself more to painting without loosing the link with the calligraphy that considerably influenced his art. In his works, Chinese characters aren?t only symbols referring to a thing anymore but the expression of a very personal artistic process. With an occasional reference to calligraphies by Henri Michaux, sometimes to Jean Dubuffet?s works, the art of Wei Ligang balances between figuration and abstraction. Indeed, if the thick material reveals figurative contents with these rows of flowers, they  are also a pretext for a subtle game on the textures. Moreover, the artist increased his colour palette over the years ; in the beginning he would restrict himself to black and white, whereas  now gold, blue, green and pink colours  are a part of his art.

Since 2013, every summer he has been in residency in the École des filles and is deeply affected by Huelgoat and its forest. And just like the poet and sinologist Victor Segalen, Wei Ligang reinvents the Occidental abstraction and revolutionises the traditional calligraphy to explore new possibilities of artistic experssion.The Cernuschi Museum bought a work created in the École. Today, his work is awarded with the greatest Chinese prizes and bought by worldwide collectors.

Exhibitions selected

Solo exhibitions

2015 - Gallery Françoise Livinec, Paris
2008 - Wei Ligang: The New Ink Painting Goedhuis Contemporary Gallery, New York
2007 - Wei Ligang Calligraphy Art, Fine Arts National Museum, Beijing, China
2007 - Oriental Totem: Wei Ligang Ink & Wash Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
2006 - China in Ink & Wash: Exhibition of Wei Ligang's Works, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2006 - New Works by Wei Ligang, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
2004 - On the Journey, He Xiang Ning Art Gallery, Shenzhen, China
1999 - Diary in Rongcheng, Taiyuan, China
1996 - Worms, To Make Chinese Characters Itch, Beijing, China
1992 - Retrospective exhibition, Taiyuan, China
1988 - Calligraphy & Seal Carving, Tianjin, Beijing, Taiyuan, China
1985 - Wei Ligang Itinerant Exhibition of Calligraphy, Paintings and Seal Cutting, Tianjin, China
1983 - An Exchange Exhibiton of Calligraphy, Nankai University of China & Kagawa University of Japan

Group exhibitions

2017 - Ailleurs est ici, École des Filles-Espace d'art, Huelgoat
2016 - L'attrape-Feu, l'art réenchante le monde, Ecole des filles-Espace d'art, Huelgoat
2016 - Art Paris Art Fair, Gallery Françoise Livinec, Paris
2015 - Art Élysées 2015, Gallery Françoise Livinec, Paris
2015 - Briser le toit de la maison, Ecole des filles-Espace d'art, Huelgoat
2014 - Art Paris Art Fair 2014, Gallery Françoise Livinec, Paris
2014 - Extrême-Orienté, Gallery Françoise Livinec, avenue Matignon, Paris
2013 - Art Élysées 2013, Gallery Françoise Livinec, Paris
2013 - Black sight, Gallery Françoise Livinec, avenue Matignon, Paris
2013 - Quel temps fait-il ? Un climat d'oeuvres modernes et contemporaines, Ecole des filles-Espace d'art, Huelgoat
2013 - Cent ans de stèles, Ecole des filles-Espace d'art, Huelgoat
2007 - Chengdu Biennale, Contemporean Art Museum, Chengdu, Chine
2002 - The Art of Calligraphy in Modern China, British Museum, Londres

Collections

The British Museum, England
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Bank of Switzerland
The International Education Fund
The Swiss Chamber of Commerce in China
China Red Cross
Chendu International Convention and Exhibition Centre
Xunyao Gallery of the Art of Chinese Characters, China
Bizhen Art Fund
Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Artist Commune, Hong Kong
Bank of Macau
He Xiangning Art Gallery
Yachang Group
Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
Rotary Club
Beijing Capital Club, and Daming Hall, Beijing, China
Buckman Museum