Still lifes standing test of time in artist’s solo exhibition
IN the eyes of many, still lifes are always related with silent objects, merely to reflect the painting technique of an artist.
However, for artist Wang Yuhong, they represent the careful and well-considered composition in art, between old and new, West and East, and reality and fantasy.
“The Refraction of Time,” Wang’s solo exhibition, is currently running at Duoyunxuan Gallery through July 10.
The exhibition features several series of Wang’s still lifes, reflecting the artist’s pursuit of the extreme dimension of the old art genre in regard to arrangement, concept and shape.
Born in Shanghai, Wang is a sculpture graduate of the prestigious China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou. Her still-life objects of bamboo, blue-andwhite porcelain, vintage comic books and other memorabilia brought her early fame as she set out on her career as an artist.
Her works have been widely exhibited in Europe and the United States, while her paintings have been collected by the Shanghai Art Museum, the Liu Haisu Art Museum and private collectors around the world.
She could easily rest on her laurels, yet she has been “digging out” the possibilities of the art form in recent decades, despite the fact that still-life painting is considered a cliché against the background of an explosion of information and visual images.
“A slightly different angle or position creates an entirely different feeling. Objects may seem unrelated, but there’s an underlying relationship between things that emerge through artistic arrangement,” she said.
For example, the painting of the famous “Twelve Beauties in the reign of Kangxi (16781753)” is scattered along with an album of Picasso, a porcelain plate of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and a modern copper spoon.
The careful arrangement of various items stamped with historical traces, as if shuttling from a certain time and space, though without a theme, are perhaps the traces in life. In such an arrangement, Wang is able to fully use her veteran realistic painting skill with a poetic and elegant spirit.
In addition to her still lifes, the exhibition displays Wang’s recent abstract paintings and some installations, such as sculptures and neon lights.
“It is a pleasure for me to walk between realistic and abstract, between plain and solid, and between construction and de-construction.”
Dates: Through July 10, 10am5pm
Venue: Duoyunxuan Gallery Address: 4/F, 422 Nanjing Rd E