Figure Studies and Botanical Observations
Shen Wei's A Season Particular places close-range photographs of the human body alongside botanical studies. Published by TBW Books in 2024, the book holds 88 color plates across 112 pages in a casebound edition with a tip-on cover.
The Work
The sequence does not build toward narrative resolution. Figure studies and plant details are set in proximity, functioning as parallel observations — surface against surface, skin against leaf, proximity as a consistent register rather than a rhetorical device. The book reads as a sustained attention to material presence rather than a statement about it.
Production quality reinforces this logic. The casebound binding and tip-on cover give the object a physical solidity that suits the density of the printing. Ink sits heavily on the page; the photographs reward handling as much as looking. Among the Photobooks in the catalogue, this edition stands apart for the consistency between its physical form and its visual concerns.
About Shen Wei
Shen Wei (born 1968) is a Chinese-American choreographer and multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. He founded Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2000, developing a practice that combines movement, painting, and visual installation. He choreographed the opening segment of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Across dance, drawing, and image-making, his work returns consistently to bodily perception, rhythm, and form. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship (2007) and the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement (2022).
