Peng Wei is a contemporary Chinese artist who primarily works with rice paper and various applications of it. The Beijing-based artist’s work features classical ink and color painting, depicting landscapes of trees, rivers, and pagodas often placed on unconventional materials, such as the insides of shoes or molded torsos or legs made of rice paper. By combining the traditional eastern motifs with western objects she creates a juxtaposition expressing her concern for the impact of globalization on China’s cultural heritage.
Wei’s work has been shown within the walls of the National Art Museum of China, the Fukuoka Art Museum in Yokohama, as well as the Kunstmuseum Luzern in Switzerland and is part of the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the Hong Kong Museum of Art to only name a few. In the case of her boot sculptures, Wei collaborated with renowned Italian shoe brand Sergio Rossi. The thigh-high rice paper forms feature delicate floral patterns, Chinese warriors on horseback, and depictions of small houses among forest trees.
Images © Peng Wei