Demonstrating a wide array of influences-from Chinese calligraphy to Expressionism-Liu Wei's work deals with universal themes of humanity. With a career spanning over thirty years, he has proved a master of rendering human flesh and combining figuration with text and abstraction. Liu Wei's deft grasp of technique and acute awareness of color and composition is evident in his lush landscapes, in which flora and fauna often escape the confines of the canvas and spill out onto the Rococo-style frames. Featuring texts by distinguished specialists in contemporary Chinese art, this first major English-language monograph provides an in-depth look at the historical context and traces his development from his early paintings reflecting disenchantment with political and artistic utopias through the lenses of skepticism and satire, to lush landscapes, striking portraits, and more recent philosophic and contemplative calligraphic works on paper.

LIU WEI (*1965, Beijing), studied printmaking at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he still lives today. He first rose to prominence as a preeminent figure in China's "cynical realism" movement of the 1990s. His paintings have been shown in museum exhibitions and biennials worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, the Singapore Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Venice Biennale.