Zhu Wei (Chinese: ?????) is a Chinese artist. As one of China’s most visible contemporary practitioners of the post-Tiananmen period, Zhu is known for his subtly quizzical critique of politics and society in a rapidly evolving China. Faithful to that country’s quintessentially classical artistic medium, Chinese painting, the Beijing-born-and-based Zhu is principally a painter.

In recent years, however, the artist has broadened his formal reach to include print-making as well as figurative sculpture. His China China series of monumental Mao-jacket-clad Chinese cadres, begun in 2000, has achieved iconic status. In most of his works, his vision often seems anguished and alienated, personal and political at the same time.

Zhu Wei...