Liao Wen

Liao Wen's artistic practice, grounded in her daily perception of the body, extends into sculpture, performance, and video. It delves into the myriad emotions residing within the body through a vibrant sculptural language.

Biography of Liao Wen

Liao Wen was born in 1994 in Chengdu, China. 

She graduated from the Printmaking department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2016 and subsequently obtained a Master's degree in Experimental Art from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China in 2019. In 2017, she studied puppets in Prague, Czech Republic, as a recipient of the Wang Shikuo Foundation Grant.

Liao Wen's solo exhibitions include "Naked" at Frieze New York in New York (2023), "Almost Collapsing Balance" at Capsule Shanghai in Shanghai (2021), and "The Body Knows Silently" at Cai Jin Space in Beijing (2021).

The artist has also participated in numerous group shows, including "Bodies and Souls" at Cassina Projects in Milan (2023); "Durian on the Skin" at François Ghebaly Gallery in Los Angeles (2022); 2nd Women Artists International Biennial of Macao in Macao (2020); "She Says" at Chengdu Contemporary Image Museum in Chengdu (2019), and many more. 

Currently, she lives in works in Hong Kong. 

Liao Wen's Art Style

Influenced by her early experience crafting marionettes, Liao's sculptures place a strong emphasis on the unseen forces transferred and contained within the joints. They unveil the vulnerability and instability of living beings, while also highlighting their resilience and strength in resisting those forces.

Liao Wen's creative themes draw from diverse sources. In her series "Almost Collapsing Balance," the sculptures' stable yet precarious structures mirror both physical and mental states approaching a threshold. Additionally, she finds inspiration in her exploration of gender within culture, evident in "Rites of Seasons," where she unravels seasonal rituals within women's communities to examine the embodiment and resonance of the life cycle and natural rhythms in female bodies.

Moreover, in her series "Poisons and Antidotes," Liao Wen contemplates the intricate and ambiguous roles of women in using natural substances, which can function as both poison and medicine. She traces the historical depiction of these roles through varying power dynamics and cultural contexts.