Yiwei Leo Wang
"Confetti is a symbol of celebration—vibrant, weightless, and momentary—yet the instant it is thrown into the air, it also becomes waste."
Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
I was born in Shijiazhuang, China, and currently live and work in Chicago. I hold an MFA in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in Sculpture & Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Pennsylvania State University. As an interdisciplinary artist, curator, performer, and raver, my work navigates the intersection of party culture, digital aesthetics, and social media. My practice examines themes of body image, gender stereotypes, the ephemerality of pleasure, and power dynamics within social spaces. My #SOFAB series is an ongoing exploration of self-performance and fabulosity, often incorporating cheap synthetic materials and mass-produced objects to reflect on consumer culture and personal identity.
Your work explores the club scene as both a place of freedom and confinement, capturing moments of intensity that fade once the night ends. How do you approach translating that fleeting energy into something tangible and lasting through your art?
In my piece Confetti, I materialize the ephemeral euphoria of clubbing into a physical form that outlasts the moment itself. Confetti is a symbol of celebration—vibrant, weightless, and momentary—yet the instant it is thrown into the air, it also becomes waste. This duality mirrors the clubbing experience: a fleeting explosion of joy that disappears as quickly as it arrives, leaving behind only remnants of memory. To translate this transient energy into something tangible, I handcraft ceramic confetti, a material both fragile and permanent. Unlike paper confetti that dissolves into the floor after a party, these ceramic pieces are frozen in time, preserving the intensity of the celebration while also carrying a sense of melancholy. Scattered across the space, they capture the aftermath of revelry—the transition from ecstasy to emptiness. The broom included in the installation further emphasizes this cycle, highlighting the moment confetti becomes debris, just as nightlife itself shifts from fantasy to reality. By enlarging and immortalizing confetti, I transform an object of ephemerality into a lasting testament to the paradox of nightlife: the beauty of the present moment, and the inevitability of its disappearance.
You incorporate materials associated with artificiality, such as faux fabrics and synthetic textures, while also referencing mass production and consumerism. How do you see these choices shaping the way your work speaks to ideas of identity, labor, and spectacle?
I enjoy using mass-produced materials to examine the interplay between identity, labor, and spectacle in a capitalist, media-driven society. I hope my works engage with the seductive nature of consumerism while exposing the hidden mechanisms of production and control that underpin it.
Unsealing the Globe presents a disco ball covered in security stickers, which viewers are encouraged to peel off. These stickers, often the final step in factory packaging, serve as a metaphor for both surveillance and labor. Once removed, they leave behind “VOID” imprints—traces of an invisible system that polices consumption. The peeling process mimics the repetitive labor of factory workers who apply these stickers, collapsing the roles of consumer and laborer into one. It also highlights the exploitative cycle of globalized manufacturing, where the glamorous objects that fuel nightlife and spectacle are often produced under precarious working conditions.
On the other hand, LEOllipop plays with self-commodification, turning my own face into a consumable product. These oversized lollipops, complete with a QR code that links to an augmented reality Instagram filter, blur the line between personal branding and objectification. The act of consuming a LEOllipop—licking, biting, and eventually destroying it—mirrors how social media users engage with others and their digital personas. The sugar overload serves as a metaphor for the fleeting dopamine rush of online validation, ultimately leaving the consumer with an empty, disposable shell.
Through these works, artificiality becomes a lens to explore the contradictions of identity and labor within spectacle culture. While the glossy surfaces of my materials seduce, they also reveal the power structures behind the objects we consume. My work invites viewers to reflect on their own participation in these systems, whether as consumers, laborers, or products themselves.
Glabal Pinata, 2021
CAUTION! Dance Floor, 2023
Confetti1, 2023
Confetti (detail), 2023
The installations have a bold, immersive quality, drawing from nightlife aesthetics, digital culture, and pop imagery. How do you balance personal expression with the broader cultural references that influence your visual language?
Growing up in China—the so-called “world’s factory”—and later immersing myself in Western culture and social media digital spaces, my visual language is deeply shaped by both personal experience and broader cultural forces. China’s mass and fast production industry was always present in my life, from the “Made in China” labels on everyday objects to the rapid cycles of manufacturing and consumption. At the same time, social media exposed me to a hyper-curated global aesthetic, where self-image, nightlife, and consumer culture are constantly reshaped through filters.
These influences manifest in my work through synthetic materials, vibrant colors, and mass-produced objects that reflect both the seduction and alienation of contemporary life. My personal expression merges with these larger cultural references, creating installations that feel both intimate and universal. I create immersive environments where viewers can insert their own experiences. My work exists in a space between personal identity and collective memory, translating the artificiality of mass culture into something deeply personal yet widely resonant.
Tell us a bit about how you spend your day / studio routine? What is your studio like?
I usually prefer doing most of my thinking and research outside of my studio. Since I work as a curator, I get the chance to have conversations with other artists, collectors, and scholars, which constantly informs my practice. I spend a lot of time in libraries and archives, diving into books that connect with my themes of nightlife, consumer culture, and identity. At the same time, my research is also spontaneous—I take notes on my phone whenever ideas come to me, even when I’m not sober, on the dance floor. Some ideas are good, some are terrible, but I like to document them all. I also do a lot of interviews, hearing people’s stories and perspectives, which often find their way into my work.
When I’m in the studio, I prefer working on at least two projects at the same time. Bouncing between them keeps my process dynamic and prevents me from overthinking a single piece. My studio itself is a mix between a workshop and a nightclub—a space filled with mirrors, LED lights, and materials from past projects. It’s both chaotic and structured, much like the themes I explore in my work.
Quilted Emptiness, 2022
Quilted Emptiness LIVE, 2021
What artwork have you seen recently that has resonated with you?
Recently, Salman Toor’s work has really resonated with me. His paintings capture intimate, almost dreamlike moments of queer life, balancing softness and tension in a way that feels deeply personal yet universally understood. I’m especially drawn to how he portrays nightlife and social gatherings—not just as spaces of joy and connection, but also as places where vulnerability and solitude coexist. His use of rich greens and muted tones, contrasted with glowing artificial lights, reminds me of the way I think about clubbing—the euphoria of the dance floor, but also the moments of isolation within it. He blends classical painting techniques with contemporary queer narratives. It makes me think about my own approach—merging traditional craftsmanship with synthetic, mass-produced materials to explore identity in a hyper-digital, consumer-driven world. Seeing his work reaffirmed my interest in translating fleeting, intimate experiences into something more lasting and tangible in my own practice.
Is there anything new and exciting in the pipeline you would like to tell us about?
Yes! I will have an upcoming show with Linye Jiang at Heaven Gallery in Chicago. This exhibition will further explore themes of queer aesthetics, self-performance, and the intersection of consumer culture and identity. Linye and I both engage with ideas of illusion in our work, so I’m looking forward to how our practices will interact in the space. The show will include new works that push my material exploration even further, incorporating reflective surfaces, interactive elements, and experimental forms.
All images courtesy of the artist
Interview publish date: 10/03/2025
Interview by Richard Starbuck
