Hongwei Li is a Chinese sculptor. He currently works and lives in Beijing and New York. In 2005 he completed his bachelor's degree from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing), majored in sculpture. In 2007 he completed his master's degree from the School of Art and Design of Alfred University (Alfred, NY) and then served as a faulty there. Now he is a tenured faculty of the College of Fine Arts at the Capital Normal University (Beijing). Since 2009 he has been a visiting scholar of Alfred University. In 2015, he was invited to lecture as a visiting artist at Harvard University. He is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (Geneva), the Chinese Sculpture Institute (Beijing) as well as the Taylor Foundation (established in 1844), Paris.
Hong Wei’s works have been collected by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts in Texas among others. Over the years, his works have been exhibited in the National Art Museum of China, the Louvre, the Art Institute of Chicago amongst other institutions. In 2013, he was awarded the Taylor Prize by the 2013 France International Salon; the chairman of the committee Michel King commented: “his work is a reflection of plural thoughts and their ongoing changes in contemporary Chinese cultural context.” The committee of the Art Institute of Chicago commented that “unlike many geometric abstract sculptures that are currently popular worldwide, Hong Wei’s work, through modern material and abstract form, is a unique way of understanding and reshaping Chinese classic aesthetic.”