Cosmotheoria: Guan Wei Solo Exhibition

As the first exhibition of 2017, Whitebox Art Center presents its first exhibition “Cosmotheoria: Guan Wei Solo Exhibition” curated by Sheng Wei on January 14, and the exhibition will continue throughout the Chinese Spring Festival until March 1st, 2017. 

As one of the earliest artist who had immigrated to the Australia, Guan Wei spends his time living and working between these two places. These experiences became an important point of entry for his artistic practice, whose work demonstrates a strong sense of “in-between-ness”. A Chinese perspective, or even a global one to examine China, shapes Guan Wei’s essential viewpoint. 

The middle gallery and two side galleries of the Whitebox Art Center resemble to the ritual halls in traditional Chinese families. From heaven to earth, from inside to outside, from top to bottom, from the panoramic view to the details, Guan Wei’s “Cosmotheoria” unfolds its narrative in the museum space. Guan Wei has invented a system of “astrology”, which allows one to navigate between the divination systems of China and the West, and construct principles of order for the chaotic and immense world: likewise, Guan Wei also paints a panoramic map of the humanity, based primarily on geography, for which natural order is then reorganized, marking a new understanding and guidance for our actions.

Below the stars and over the rivers, it’s the vanity world of all living beings of the human civilization. Through the understanding of modern nations, people have defined the contemporary and reshape our understanding of history. Subjects such as “economic cooperation”, “anti-terrorist”, “environmental protection”, “climate” in the new millennium on the one hand expand the cooperation of all nations worldwide, on the other hand, these issues continue to deepen the notion of national boundaries. With the modern “Cosmotheoria” and the sub-systems derived, people took control of the world, and making unprecedented changes to infinite world energy. Particularly, the innovation of humanity, genetic modifications, facial and hand interpretations, beauty and health issues are interesting topics that appealed to Guan Wei. In the contemporary, they are redefining the classification of social structures and everyday life.

This is a popularization of social spectacle in the post-modern, what we considered “free” are within the expectations of a “Cosmotheoria” we have invented. Given this grand structure, Guan Wei presents a contemporary viewpoint to this chaotic time and space. A highly visualized world consists of astrology, maps, or meridian points, enlarged DNA helix or viruses on a petri dish, follows the new order constructed by the contemporaries. Such order is not a priori, but a human invention. For the artist who navigates the in-between, Guan Wei looks over from above, by integrating his own experience with objective observations, he reveals a Cosmotheoria that is not only his own, but also shared by everyone.