Blurring the line between movement and paint

Fifty years have passed since Chinese artist Shen Wei first put a brush to paper while learning traditional Chinese painting in Hunan province, when he was 7 years old.

Now, on an autumnal day in New York, Shen watches as four American dancers move across an enormous canvas, their bodies becoming brushes in motion. Through his choreography, they trace their movements in paint on the canvas floor, each flow and turn becoming vast strokes that merge dance and painting into one living artwork.

A choreographer, dancer, director and visual artist, Shen is weaving his diverse artistic identities through a joint exhibition by the Katonah Museum of Art in New York and the Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

The joint show will last until April 18, 2026 at the Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and through April 19 at the Katonah Museum of Art.

Shen studied traditional Chinese culture for decades, including Chinese opera, painting and calligraphy, followed later by dance.

"Chinese culture has its own beauty and civilization that have been passed down for thousands of years," Shen says.

"After coming to the West, I began to understand Western civilization, its aesthetics, painting, dance, music, film and opera. I love both cultures deeply. They are both humanity's shared pursuit of beauty expressed through sound, sight and movement in different ways. I find both profoundly beautiful, creating a new artistic identity of my own that deeply relates to my Chinese roots, as well as Western culture," Shen says.

The two exhibitions, named Shen Wei: Still/Moving, show Shen's work primarily from his earlier Music and Movement, the Calligraphy Brush series, which is more abstract — exploring the flow of the body's inner qi energy, and the depiction of music and movement, through brush or body, on the canvas. The work deeply relates to his own experiences of dance and Chinese calligraphy.

Some of the paintings have a code that can be scanned, so you can listen to the specific music that inspired him to create the painting.