Mosquito Season no.4, 1998

Guo Wei (born 1960 in Chengdu, China) graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and has been exhibited internationally since 1988. In his work, Wei focuses on the individual and on the personal development of the people of China. The isolation of the individual caused by the communist system is an important theme in his work. These themes he depicted in his realistic paintings, in which children and young people from his environment play the leading role.
The young figures he portrays serve as a metaphor for the transformation of Chinese society. Wei says of them: "People often ask me why I paint children. For me, they are the models for my concept. The children are actually actors [...]. They are playing adults and children at the same time: they show both the good and the bad." Wei portrays the growing pains of a generation in China, now that the country is increasingly open to the West. His paintings are provocative and original and examine feelings of alienation from society as well as feelings of alienation from within.