Shen Wei, “Passion Spirit,” 2020 (video still). Courtesy Shen Wei/Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Painter. Filmmaker. Dancer. Calligrapher. Choreographer.
Shen Wei’s creations don’t jump from one discipline to the next, they flow. His artwork—every aspect—has the dynamic continuity of an expansive river.
The Chinese-American artist has taken over the Gardner Museum in a variety of thoughtful, evocative ways. A still from his film “Passion Spirit” hangs on the museum’s facade, greeting entrants. His huge canvases—an exhibition entitled “Painting in Motion”—hang in the Hostetter Gallery. His short films—including “Passion Spirit”—run on a loop in Calderwood Hall. A short clip of Shen Wei dancing solo in “Variations” initiates visitors to his paintings.
His movement language—Shen Wei’s dancers, often just himself, stay mostly rooted to the ground, arms and upper torso swirling fluidly, self-absorbed and calm. This mimics his visual language. The paintings are mythic, abstract landscapes, with a strong sense of implied narrative—implied but elusive—rooted to the past but shifting.
Shen Wei, “Red Marker Number 1, 2020. Artist rendering on facade of the Gardner Museum. Courtesy Shen Wei
Shen Wei’s most visible project was “Scroll Painting,” an extravagant choreography that was performed in 2008 as part of the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. In “Scroll Painting,” dancers with “paint mitts” create calligraphic swirls on a touchscreen dance-floor. The dancers are embraced by huge mechanical scrolls, which unravel even more images along the surface.
Dancing, drawing, backlit dance-floors and enormous rolling mechanisms—it all seems impossibly complicated, and likely cost a fortune.
In fact, “Scroll Painting” feels simple. Its insights use the present as a palimpsest to write about history. Shen Wei’s most well-known project, “Scroll Painting” is available here on a tablet in a drawer in the Hostetter Gallery anteroom, just part of the artist’s back-story for especially inquisitive visitors.
Shen Wei was in residence at the Gardner in 2018 and 2019, part of the museum’s longstanding support of working artists. His work permeates the museum, and remains on view until June 20, offering visitors a chance to experience his interdisciplinary focus.
Born in Hunan, Shen Wei trained in opera, worked with performing troupes, created his own dance troupe, and has devoted long periods of isolation alternately to stage productions, painting, dancing, choreographing, and filmmaking. His MacArthur Fellowship in 2007, and the Olympic opening ceremony telecast a year later, have brought international attention.
No single discipline dominates Shen Wei’s practice. His work feels organic—not discrete practices, but one integrated weaving. The films might offer the most concise way of experiencing his amalgam of activities—a sample of ten-minute shorts show on the hour in Calderwood Hall, and a smaller sampling in the original museum’s Fenway Gallery.
The films are slow-paced art films. Soundtracks—not continuous—are contemplative.
Visually the films stretch easily into the unknown. One short, “Inner Shadow of Movement,” set in the Harbin Opera House in northern China, blends the grace of a lone dancer into the sensuous angles of that architectural marvel. “Passion Spirit” was created at the Gardner during his residency, and follows a single dancer—sometimes costumed in red, sometimes in white—who evokes the Renaissance spirit of the original museum, and its original inhabitant.
Timed reservations are necessary for a visit. Wear a mask. The café and store are open. The spacious new wing offers plenty of room for social distancing, although the narrow passages of the original museum are sometimes tricky. The garden has its first seasonal display of the year, lush and aromatic as usual. Multiple complementary activities are also ongoing in May, part of Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month.
“Shen Wei: Painting in Motion” runs through June 20. The museum is open 11:00–5:00 weekdays, 10:00–5:00 p.m. weekends. Open until 9:00 p.m. on first Thursdays. Closed Tuesdays. Visit gardnermuseum.org or call 617 566-1401.
Keith Powers covers music and the arts for Gannett New England, Leonore Overture and Opera News. Follow @PowersKeith; email to keithmichaelpowers@gmail.com.