Li Wei falls to the Earth

January 29, 2007 11:16 AM

Beijing artist Li Wei switched from oil painting to performance art in 1999; in 2000 he used mirrors to create a ... detached collection. Then he began falling into things.
posted by Terminal Verbosity (17 comments total)

Li maintains that his photos are staged with mirrors, scaffolding and harnesses. For the falling series, he often actually holds the pose--if only for a second. The only photoshopping done is to remove evidence of the riggings and support.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 11:18 AM on January 29, 2007

Whoops. Full collection here.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 11:22 AM on January 29, 2007

I was all ready for a 'meh', as so much performance art here is dire and uninspired, but this looks really good and i'll look out for him. Thanks.
posted by Abiezer at 11:30 AM on January 29, 2007

Pull!
posted by itchylick at 11:41 AM on January 29, 2007

So when my wife slipped on the ice and fell in the parking lot at work the other day she wasn't a klutz, but a performance artist.

She'll be so relieved.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:06 PM on January 29, 2007

This is very weird and I like it.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 12:07 PM on January 29, 2007

The guys media is mostly composed of a mirror with a hole in it, his head, his surroundings (and someone to take photos). Original genius shit. This must have hurt.
posted by Skygazer at 12:19 PM on January 29, 2007

I like it because he's magic.
posted by dogwalker at 12:52 PM on January 29, 2007

This is great stuff. Fun for the eyes and sends the mind reeling, too.
posted by dontoine at 2:20 PM on January 29, 2007

Quiet, Crash. This is good.
posted by Tlogmer at 3:06 PM on January 29, 2007

Those one's where he has fallen into things reminds me a little of Joe Sola's "Studio Visit" video.

In this video, Joe Sola has fancy curator types over at his home studio and he sits talking to them a tiny bit about some nonsense concepts. Then, he makes like he's going to get up and get something for them but runs across the room and jumps straight through his 2nd story window (through stunt glass). The video is several of these performances with different people. Funny as hell.
posted by redteam at 3:54 PM on January 29, 2007

This guy kicks total ass.
posted by Anything at 4:43 PM on January 29, 2007

Terrific stuff -- thanks for the post. Thought-provoking, whimsical, disquieting -- all at once.
posted by treepour at 5:00 PM on January 29, 2007

Some amazing performance artists have come out of China in the past couple decades. Zhang Huan really blows me away.
posted by treepour at 5:12 PM on January 29, 2007

Errrmmm... how is he a performance artist? He takes photos.... the art wouldn't, clearly, work as a performance, only after editing and so forth.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:27 PM on January 29, 2007

Errrmmm... how is he a performance artist? He takes photos.... the art wouldn't, clearly, work as a performance, only after editing and so forth.

His art seems to be as much about the process as the finished product. Indeed, the product absolutely begs the question of process. Check out the videos if you don't think the process can be as artistically engaging (in an admittedly different way) as the photos.
posted by treepour at 11:33 AM on January 30, 2007

Hey we've all landed head first into red square at some point, haven't we?
posted by phylum sinter at 10:58 PM on January 30, 2007