Liu Wei
Liu Wei explores the relationship between material and the spirit of its time. Transforming inexpensive, everyday plastic garbage bags into an artistic language of the “Plastic Age,” he reconfigures disposable materials into new sculptural possibilities. Through layering, arrangement, and reconstruction, plastic acquires new forms, textures, and visual vitality. As light passes through its surface, this ordinary material is reborn with renewed life, becoming a metaphor for the survival, transformation, and collective existence of individuals within contemporary society.
Sea of People
2014–2016, installation, plastic garbage bags, 100 × 100 cm × 3 pieces
Sea of People is one of the representative works from Liu Wei’s Plastic Landscapes series, produced between 2014 and 2022. Constructed from layers of discarded black, white, and gray plastic garbage bags, the work evokes the dense crowds returning home during the Spring Festival, forming a vast “sea of people.” Countless ordinary individuals gather into a single flowing mass, reflecting the realities and conditions of everyday life in contemporary society. Beginning with an ordinary scene, Liu reveals a broader social landscape: while each individual may appear insignificant, together they shape the character and course of an era.
