Hot Shots : Shen Wei
Artist Statement
I started photography when I first moved to US from China. I took a Photo One class, and I decided I am going to become a photographer, before that I have never touched an SLR camera. My primarily interest is people, the portraits by Caravaggio, Diane Arbus, Peter Hujar and Lucien Freud are my influences. I have an MFA and BFA in Photography and a BA in Decorative Arts & Design. My submitting photos are from my recent series Almost Naked, which is a long-term portrait project that exploring identity and sexuality in America, motivated by my desire to understand the complexity of emotional and physical nakedness.
Biography
Born and raised in Shanghai, China, Shen Wei is a fine art photographer based in New York City. Shen's photographs have been widely exhibited in galleries and museums, including the Griffin Museum of Photography, Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall, Australia Center for Photography, Kunst Licht Gallery in Shanghai, Katzen Art Center, Saatchi Gallery at the Zoo Art Fair and the Pingyao International Photography Festival in Shanxi, China. He has participated in two group shows at Jen Bekman Gallery, as a Fall 2006 Hot Shot and in the exhibition, A New American Portrait. Shen's work has been featured in various publications such as American Photo, Chinese Photography, PDN, NY Arts, Vision and La Tempestad.
Shen Wei was a recipient of The Griffin Award in 2007 from The Griffin Museum of Photography, The Urban Artist Initiative / New York City Fellowship in 2008 and The Manhattan Community Arts Fund Grant in 2007 and 2008, and has been invited to participate in the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center's Creative Artist Residency, this fall in Italy. Shen was named as one of fifteen in the "new generation of photo pioneers" by American Photo magazine in 2007 as well as one of the PDN's "30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch" in 2008.