Zhong Wei was born in Beijing, China in 1987. Zhong Wei’s works on canvas are windows into contemporary culture’s most dominating technological accomplishment: The Internet. Having compiled a massive database of memes and imagery found online, Zhong uses these ubiquitous images as raw material for his work and constructs fleeting snapshots of this rapidly evolving matrix. Fundamental to Zhong Wei’s practice is a concept he refers to as “coupling,” an idea that the endless flow of information on the Internet generates random pairings, each catalysing innumerable more possibilities. For many, the unpredictable nature of the online universe acts as an escape hatch from the monotony of real life. As the rabbit hole deepens with each click, the Internet becomes an entire alternate world parallel to physical reality – a boundless dimension in which one is free to be whom they want, unshackled by the chains of real life.
