Born in Tianjin in 1977, Wang Jie entered the Affiliated High School of China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1994 and later obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Painting Department at CAFA. Wang has been active in the contemporary art world since 2000. His 2002 series titled Teen Spirit blending memories of growing up with feelings of alienation in a fantasy-like painting style have won critical acclaim. Wang was instrumental in the founding of N12 and has exhibited with the group many times. In his 'Lost Body' series presented at his solo exhibition Lost in the Shade, Wang made use of unique symbolic language to subvert the visual tradition seen in art history and express the alienation, emptiness and confusion of contemporary life, and forms a metaphor for modern society in China. Wang was awarded by The Eighteenth International Congress of Aesthetics when participating in the Diversities in Aesthetics: Invitation Art Exhibition Gala in 2010; and was named Artist of the Year by Fortune and Art magazine in 2012.
Read MoreCuriosity about time and space motivates man to explore science and create culture. Art is a way of depicting time, and painting is a desire to capture time. Wang establishes imagery displaced in time and space, such that time is no longer a frame but rather a conduit. In his paintings, he attempts to describe human existence, the passage of time and twisting of space. Driven to make iconic works, he produces biting satire of society and politics. He uses different methods of presenting his distrust of national history, such as depicting those who must accept an unfortunate fate, struggle, and are confused and in pain. 'When hitting that icy cold wall time and again, I always feel mired in absurdity. Facing society's cruelty, any doubt, crying out or criticism seems empty and pointless, there is nothing but the void' says Wang when explaining his reaction to global consumerism. Wang’s work is a responseto a world rife with capitalism, technology and calculation, where human thought and feeling are devalued. As it has become increasingly difficult to escape pretense, vanity and materialism, Wang issues a wake-up call to a world out of control and conflicted, in hopes of restoring our faith in humanity and dreams.
