Artwork Description

Title: Body
Artist: Guo Wei
Date: 2005
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 15.7 x 11.8 in (40 x 30 cm)

Artwork Identification:
This 2005 oil painting by Guo Wei, Title:d Body, presents a simplified, expressionist nude figure rendered in soft tonalities of blue and cream. The subject covers their face in a gesture of vulnerability or fatigue, set against an intentionally unfinished background, allowing raw canvas to frame the composition. The piece is signed and dated on the lower right corner.

Artistic Style and Influences:
Guo Wei employs loose, gestural brushwork and a restricted color palette to convey psychological depth with minimal detail. The obscured facial features and sketch-like handling speak to the artist’s ongoing exploration of emotional interiority. This stylistic restraint enhances the expressive power of posture and body language, aligning with expressionist tendencies within Chinese contemporary art.

Historical Context:
Created in 2005—a year marked by China’s rapid social and economic transition—this work reflects Guo Wei’s ongoing concern with personal identity amid collective upheaval. The ambiguous, faceless figure can be interpreted as a symbol of disorientation or introspection, offering a subtle critique of the alienation that accompanied China's urban modernization in the early 21st century.

Provenance:
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

Condition and Conservation:
The artwork is in very good condition. The canvas is structurally sound, and the surface exhibits no signs of damage or deterioration. The pigment is well preserved.

Artistic Significance:
This early 21st-century work exemplifies Guo Wei’s unique approach to figuration, prioritizing gesture and emotional nuance over anatomical precision. Body invites contemplation on themes of exposure, withdrawal, and psychological fragility. It stands as a poignant example of the artist’s ability to distill universal human emotion through a restrained, painterly lens—underscoring his enduring relevance in the contemporary Chinese art scene.