Immigrant’s two primary residences reflected in his works
The East meets the West in the art of Man-Wai Wu. The native of southern China moved to Hong Kong in 1958 before setting down roots two decades ago in the town of Sutton West in Ontario, Canada.
The multifaceted influences on Wu’s art are abundantly clear in a stunning selection of his work on view through Aug. 7 at the Hayley Gallery in New Albany.
Gallery owner Hayley Deeter said the paintings showing buildings or other structures — a red-roofed residence or a peaceful dock — honor Wu’s heritage in China and the bold, brilliant landscapes reflect his present-day life in Canada.
No matter which part of the world Wu is painting, his talent for color, composition and atmosphere is evident.
In the oil-on-canvas “L2024 #2” — like the rest of the pieces included here, the painting is identified with a series of letters and numbers, Deeter said, because the artist is reluctant to name them in English — the tops of a batch of trees are bathed in the blinding light of the sun.
Flecks of color stand in for leaves; the leaves closest to the ray of sunlight are yellow and white, and those farthest away are green, orange, purple and pink — autumnal tones.
Meanwhile, Wu depicts trees cloaked in shards of mysterious yet inviting shadows in the oil-on-canvas “L1620 #4”; the leaves are still multicolored but are mixed with specks of white, suggesting the transition from fall to winter.
Wu, who has relatives “L1620 #4” “L1620 #5”
living in Columbus, can be strikingly naturalistic. In the oil-on-birch-woodpanel “L610 #13,” the artist presents a series of snow-dappled trees without embellishment.
His approach, though, does vary.
“L610 #12” — also an oil-on-birch-woodpanel — offers a similar view rendered in chunky blocks of color that only dimly suggest the subject matter; the piece has a hurried quality, as if the season is changing too fast for the artist to keep up. At a glance
Similarly, smudges of white paint render indistinct the tall trees in the background of the oil-on-birchwood-panel “L1012 #5.” Perhaps the white paint is meant to evoke a snowfall or fog.
Elsewhere, Wu adds abstract, angular forms to otherwise-realistic scenes. For example, a gridlike form hovers in the background of the trees in several paintings. The mix of looseness and rigidity found in the artist’s work is compelling.
Wu’s presentations of Chinese locales are sometimes hazier, with buildings painted in a muted blur.
In the oil-on-canvas “L1616 #5,” a low structure sits just beyond a boat in water, suggesting that Wu’s memories of his home nation might have dimmed with time. Most magnificent, perhaps, is “L4040 #1,” an oil-on-canvas in which dozens upon dozens of leaves fall like confetti from trees. The work reflects Wu’s delight in the natural world, elegantly on display throughout this eye-popping exhibit.