Fri, April 11
5:30–6pm • Artist Talk 
6–9pm • Opening Reception

Sat, April 26
6–8pm • Public Reception

Fri, May 23
6–8pm • Closing Reception

Material Gallery is pleased to present Ink Shadows, a new series of ink paintings, including Asian folding screens, by the renowned Taiwanese artist Lu Wei. 

Following the resounding success of Lu Wei's first solo exhibition at Material in 2023, titled My Sole Desires, in Ink Shadows, Lu Wei focuses on interpreting 'shadows' through the unique medium and spirituality of ink painting. She interprets 'shadows' from a multicultural standpoint across time, exploring the lesser-known and creative feminine aspects revealed in her paintings and intending to heal and empower female characters historically depicted as 'dark' or 'negative.' 

Lu Wei's artworks, which include ink paintings, installations, videos, artist's books, hand scrolls, and Asian screens. She draws from religious, literary, mythological, and mother archetypes to reflect on her woman experience and her transition to motherhood, creating a distinct and thought-provoking body of work through a contemporary lens. 

In her artist's statement for Ink Shadows, Lu Wei explains "From a Christian worldview perspective, 'shadows' generally symbolize a dark side, concealing both the unknown and the feared. The system of a male-dominated culture and the history of colonization have divided both the female self and the female deity by attaching terrifying attributes to the powerful female goddesses and replacing them with male deities. This resulted in pushing the goddesses underground, severed from their original wholeness, including light and darkness."

In addition to Ink Shadows, Material is excited to join forces with Ogden Contemporary Arts (OCA) to present Entering Into the Serpent, a solo exhibition of Lu Wei's work. This collaborative effort, on view in Ogden, Utah, from May 2 through July 13, is a celebration of the darker creative powers of women, and we invite you to be a part of it.

The exhibitions Ink Shadows and Entering Into the Serpent are made possible in part by the generous support of the Ministry of Culture in Taiwan, Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles, and the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan.

Lu Wei (b.1994) is a visual artist and curator based in Taipei, Taiwan. She received her bachelor's degree and a master's in Fine Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts. Lu Wei's artworks include ink paintings, installations, artist's books, handscrolls, and screens. Her works reference symbols of women across cultures, drawing from religious, literary, and mythological figures as well as mother archetypes to reflect on her experiences as a woman and her transition to motherhood. In addition to cultivating the tradition of ink painting techniques, she also incorporates ideas of gender issues and feminine thought in her work, seeking to reinterpret and expand the understanding of gendered bodies and their images in the history of ink painting.

In 2023, Lu Wei was artist-in-residence at Grey Projects in Singapore, a collaborative multi-year program with Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, sponsored by the Asia Pacific Exchange Program and Taipei Artist Village. Lu Wei was awarded several important grants, including the grants from Taiwanese National Culture and Arts Foundation, and the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture grants. In 2023, Lu Wei was awarded a grant from Taiwanese Ministry of Culture grant, which included a three-month artist residency at 18th Street Arts Center in Los Angeles, CA. In 2024, she was awarded a grant from Taiwanese National Culture and Arts Foundation for a 5 months curatorial project in Utah. During her stay in the United States, Lu Wei exhibited her solo show My Sole Desires at Material in Salt Lake City, UT, and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) acquired two of her artworks for their permanent collection. The Taiwanese American Foundation also acquired several of Lu Wei’s paintings as part of their permanent collection.

Lu Wei has participated in numerous group exhibitions in galleries and museums, including Ames Yavuz (Singapore, 2025), ER Gallery (Taipei, Taiwan, 2024), Absolute Space for the Arts (Tainan, Taiwan, 2023), OUR Museum (New Taipei City, Taiwan 2022), Silpakorn University (Bangkok, Thailand, 2022), Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (Prague, Czech Republic, 2022), SOKA Art (Tainan, Taiwan, 2021), Mezzo Art (Tainan, Taiwan, 2021), Taipei Artist Village (Taipei, Taiwan, 2020), and AKI Gallery (Taipei, Taiwan, 2020). She is also a recognized and celebrated curator with several national and international exhibitions, including shows at Taitung Art Museum (Taitung, Taiwan, 2023) for which was nominated for the 22nd Taishin Art Award, MOCA Taipei (Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei) for which she received the “curator's incubator program @museums” grant from the National Culture and Arts Foundation, and at Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C- Lab) for 2023’s Taiwan Annual.