Bio

Tess Wei (b. 1995, Philadelphia) is an artist, writer, and curator born and based in Philadelphia. They have held solo exhibitions nationally and internationally at Galerie Molitor (Berlin, Germany); Larry Becker Contemporary Art (Philadelphia, PA); and D.D.D.D. (New York, NY). Their work has also been included in group exhibitions at: Larry Becker Contemporary Art (Philadelphia, PA); Icebox Project Space (Philadelphia, PA); Field Projects (New York, NY); Anna Zorina (New York, NY); Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, PA); Grizzly Grizzly (Philadelphia, PA); AUTOMAT (Philadelphia, PA). Their work has been reviewed in Artforum and Two Coats of Paint. In 2026, Wei will be a resident at Vermont Studio Center, and has previously been awarded residencies in Fogo Island (Newfoundland, CA), Chautauqua School of Art (Chautauqua, NY), and Ballinglen Arts Foundation (Ballycastle, Ireland). Wei has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions for artists most recently including: Donald E. Camp, Tabitha Arnold, Melissa Joseph, and Karyn Olivier, and has worked as a curatorial consultant for the Woodmere Art Museum. They were recently the Associate Curator at Swarthmore College and served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at the College as well. They have run for 109.2 miles (26 hours straight), and their favorite movie is Harold and Maude.

Statement

I am interested in the importance of lingering and rest, and explore these acts through:

(x) paintings that shift in response to changing light, vantage points, and slow looking.

(y) thought experiments in other media such as writing, sculpture, and food research.

My practice begins with research that considers how slowness, duration, and (day)dreams offer means of resisting the acceleration of life-cum-global-capitalism , and re-framing the realities and futures of climate change. I wonder how rest and waiting can inform understandings of larger topics of labor and ecology. These constellation of thoughts are greatly influenced by the writings of Hito Steyerl, Byung-Chul Han, Italo Calvino, Slavoj Žižek, and especially Walter Benjamin.

email: tesswei17@gmail.com

instagram: @tess_wei

thank you to Heidie Mojica, Damien Ding, Devon Watts. and Alexa for some of the photos found throughout this site