During his residency, Shen Wei has been making self-portraits in and around Syracuse. Growing up after the end of the Cultural Revolution, Wei explains that this series is partially based in a response to his traditional upbringing in China. The artist, who often appears naked in the images, investigates concepts of self-expression, the body, sexuality, romanticism, and human bonding in these performative photographs. His images also address the boundaries between interiority and the physical world, as well as notions of public and private, ideas that also came to the surface in his previous series Almost Naked.

Wei holds a BA in Decorative Art and Design from Shanghai Light-Industry, a BFA in Photography from Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and an MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts, NYC. His art has been exhibited around the work in venues including Randall Scott Gallery, NYC, Kunst.Licht Gallery, Shanghai, The Kinsey Institue Gallery, Bloomington, IN, and Daniel Cooney Fine Art, NYC, among many others. In 2009 Wei was a resident at the Rockerfeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy, and his work is in several collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, the Griffin Museum of Photography, and the Museum of Chinese in America.

Wei’s book Chinese Sentiment will be published in 2011 by Charles Lane Press.

www.shenphoto.com