New Pictures of the Strikingly Bizarre (1994-1996)

A critic once commented on Zhu Wei: “Zhu Wei is a serious yet witty and humorous thinker and a diligent practitioner.” In the same year as working on Comrade Captain and Beijing Story in 1994, Zhu has also began—New Pictures of the Strikingly Bizarre, based on Ming Huaben (vernacular short stories). With a slight change of the title, Zhu appropriates the subject to tell contemporary tales. The artist thinks that whatever is happening today actually has resemblance to old times. Also, he explores a variety of forms in his works, drawing reference from the various framing and mounting techniques in classical paintings. The picture in Zhu’s painting has a punk gesture which represents “I Love You” in English sign language-- stretching the thumb, index and pinky fingers, while rolling the middle and ring fingers, which altogether symbolize the 3 letters: I, L (Love) and Y (You). This work is one of the most emblematic works for Zhu in this period.

《新二刻拍案惊奇》（1994-1996年）

有评论家曾这样评价朱伟：朱伟是一位严肃但充满睿智与幽默的思考者和勤奋的实践者。在创作《上尉同志》和《北京故事》的同时，1994年这一年，朱伟又开始了对全新作品的尝试——《新二刻拍案惊奇》，这一基于明代话本小说《二刻拍案惊奇》而来的题材。朱伟将原著书名稍作改动，用它来讲述现代的故事，他认为今天发生的一切其实和古代非常相似。并且在作品形制上探讨了多种变化的可能性，而实际上这一元素的采用仍来源于中国传统书画多变的装裱形制。画面中极具“朋克”意味的手势，实际上代表的是英语手语中的“我爱你”，用伸出的拇指、食指和小指，同时蜷起中指和无名指包含了字母I（我）、L（love爱）、和Y（you你），成为朱伟此一阶段最具代表性的作品之一。