Beijing, autumn 2023.
Wang Huaiqing greets us at the door.
Spanning thousands of miles, this studio visit reveals discussions that go beyond Wang's new body of work. More relevant are the reflections on the years of separation due to the pandemic. His demeanour allows us a glimpse of what art means to him: making art is less a relentless pursuit than an everyday practice, a spiritual cultivation.
Amid the cold, dry air of northern China on this early autumn night rings the hearty voice of the brisk artist, distinct from the soft whisper of a southern island.
To learn about Wang, to examine his work, to delve into his art, one is inevitably engaged in a dialectic and investigation of Chinese heritage, immersion in the literati's interior realm. His decades-long practice unfurls into singular bodies of work. The artist remains prolific and vigorous against the backdrop of the Western and Asian vibrant art scenes. From his early portrayal of figures, followed by his exploration of traditional residential architecture in southern China, to his deconstruction of Ming-style furniture, the cultural palimpsest into which he was born enthralls him with its overlay of dynasties and generations: musings are transmuted into geometric abstraction that belongs unmistakably to Wang.
Imbued with a sensibility unique to the Chinese literati, the artist's work exudes a sense of layering rooted in the Chinese culture: a rational spirit based on profound sensibility, and an emotional pursuit within a logical composition. Born in Beijing in 1944, Wang studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Crafts, and later at the Graduate School of Central Academy of Fine Arts and Crafts. During the Cultural Revolution, he spent years in labor reform camps before serving as a stage designer in the People's Liberation Army. His lifelong journey and poignant experience not only resonate with those of his peers, but inform his grasp of mediums, of techniques, of painting's two-dimensionality. Having turned away from the pursuit of figurative imagery, the artist continues to explore the fine balance rendered in paint and canvas, defined by his sense of perspective and dimension.
Among the principles of classical Chinese aesthetics, 'to convey sentiment through object' evokes the emotional nuances that shade the Eastern thought. Objects may be used to allude to demeanour and disposition: shanshui maybe be employed to convey subjectivity; flora and fauna may be referenced to commend the literati spirit; craftsmanship may be invoked to express aesthetic sentiment. In Wang's depiction of furniture, architecture, Chinese emperors, or the city of Beijing, the outward appearance is merely a vessel for contemplation and dialectic of structure, space, line, and painting itself, even the artist's nostalgia for the integrity of the literati, and Chinese legacy. His choice of mediums, like his character, is candid and magnanimous. The use of a single colour and geometric abstraction, to some extent, is interlinked with the visual experience and aesthetics found in Chinese ink painting.
Wang Huaiqing's first solo exhibition at Tina Keng Gallery since 2014, The Art of Play embodies the artist's journey over the past half century, stretching across mediums from oil on canvas, ink on paper, to aluminium alloy. Divided into two sections: oil paintings and sculptures on the first floor, and works on paper on the third floor, this exhibition maps the artist's latest creative trajectory. Coinciding with The Art of Play at Tina Keng Gallery, Wang Huaiqing: 50 Years of Painting opens on March 23 at Asia University Museum of Modern Art, as a collaboration between the gallery and the museum. Curated by Chia Chi Jason Wang, 50 Years of Painting presents a meticulous selection of the artist's past body of work that delineates his distinctive oeuvre.
Dark, rigorous brushstrokes morph into distinct blocks of ink on canvas in 'The Balance of White' and 'Competitive Performance' series. Bold and unrestrained at first glance, the enormous ink blocks are defined by a varying tonal texture. Titled 'The Balance of White,' the series encapsulates the artist's philosophy in his twilight years: ingenuity mantled in spartan simplicity, affability epitomised by non-contention. Finding equilibrium between black and white, space and volume, density and sparsity, the artist conjures a realm of interiority where desire obeys a visceral logic of discipline.
Wang does not confine himself solely to the creation of painting. Instead, he introduces a three-dimensional approach to his visual language through a calibrated choice of medium. He pivots away from the conceptualisation and symbolisation of physical objects on canvas toward a method of three-dimensional abstraction. His latest body of sculptures embodies the artist's adroit use of aluminium alloy, which transfigures metal into a muted form, as if born out of paper cutting techniques, with a polished, glinting surface upon which light and shadow intertwine. The visual appeal of light and shadow through carefully crafted openings is accentuated by three-dimensional cutting techniques that reveal the dynamism of the work in the space it inhabits. In addition, the artist shifts to Chinese handmade mulberry flax paper, applying such techniques as texturing, rubbing, dyeing, and dotting to render expansive blocks of colour on paper, which exude a classical charm distinct from contemporary ink painting.
The exhibition title The Art of Play conveys the guiding principle in the artist's practice. This creative philosophy is not one of mere self-indulgence or disorder, but rather one of spiritual liberation. Only when engaged in art with a sense of play can the artist approach tao, or the Way, returning at last to his true self through artistic catharsis in the flow of time. As the artist puts it, 'Eviscerate everything unrelated to art, what is dispensable, what painting cannot cradle or afford. Leave only what is unquestionable, unnegotiable, what is impossible to ignore.' Free from the clamor of colour, what remains is immaculate and unbridled, a Wang Huaiqing that is one with nature.
The Art of Play marks an earnest ode to the artist's own culture, and a sonorous call to the contemporary world.
Press release courtesy Tina Keng Gallery
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