New exhibit features early ink paintings and recent abstract works by Chinese artist Wei Jia

The Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection at Connecticut College opened a new exhibition earlier this month that will remain on view in the Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room in Shain Library through March 4, 2026. “Wei Jia: This Moment” highlights the five-decade career of Wei Jia, a Beijing-born artist whose work bridges calligraphy, ink painting, collage and abstraction. His art explores the intersections of tradition and experimentation, East and West, and past and present.

Wei began studying calligraphy, ink painting and poetry as a child in Beijing. He later trained in oil painting and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1984, followed by a Master of Fine Arts from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 1987. He lives and works in both New York and Beijing. His work is represented in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the Dadu Museum in Beijing and the National Museum of Chinese History in Beijing.

“Wei Jia: This Moment” presents early ink paintings made during Wei’s teenage years alongside recent abstract works. In these new pieces, he collages fragments of earlier paintings and calligraphy onto handmade paper, giving his past new expression in the present.

“I have always focused upon the present, yet I remain aware of how deeply it is bound to the past,” the artist said. “People say that art comes from life, and I agree. But for me, art also comes from art.”

Conn Professor of Chinese Yibing Huang, curator of the Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection, has been deeply engaged in the contemporary Chinese literary and art scene since the 1980s. He has taught contemporary Chinese and Chinese American art and organized a series of exhibitions featuring many of the most renowned artists in the field, including Zhang Dali, Xu Bing, Zhang Hongtu, Cai Dongdong, Mao Xiaojian, Wang Ai, Guo Zhen, Cui Fei, Wang Mansheng, and Lan Zhenghui.

“Many of these artists have visited our campus, engaging students and the public in lively discussions and creative exchanges,” Huang said. “Wei Jia is a welcome new addition to this distinguished group. The Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection will continue to present new exhibitions in the years to come, sustaining and expanding these invaluable moments of artistic and cultural encounter and convergence.”