Li Wang “Crossing”
Salomon Arts Gallery
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An Intellectual’s Daydreams 一个知识分子的白日梦 It’s quite natural for a Chinese artist to use ink, for he is usually well-trained to do so. When inspiration comes, a Chinese painter has no problem picking up an ink brush, spreading a piece of rice paper on a table and writing his mind and soul in the same way others write a diary. When we read Li Wang’s ink paintings, we read his mind, discover his daydreams.
Li Wang’s private world is quiet, peaceful and gentle; an atmosphere of humor and grace pervades everything. Girls lay in bed as if they don’t know they are\ striking a pose, naturally, carelessly showing off their beauty. This is a fantasy of a Chinese intellectual. Not much is provoking. The girls are elegant and smart, but still sexy and playful, and most importantly, beautiful and sluggish. His intention is obvious. A single rose lies by the side of a girl. Sometimes, Li Wang includes himself in his painting, a lonely man with old-fashion round black frame eyeglasses, sitting by a girl’s side or holding a girl on his leg, admiring while looking at or drawing them. His humor and gentle romanticism are hidden somewhere in the painting. There is always a lone crow, a symbol of his soul in his world, but most of the time no other companion. But he is comfortable with himself, his book, his bird, enjoying his quiet state.
here a new message is delivered: “crossing”, a Buddhist term meaning the course of savableness, or to be saved as a human goes through suffering and reaches the shore of eternity. There is a boat or a choo-choo train, his people
are happily crowded on board, playing their instruments, each doing their own things, with their telescopes in hand looking forward, pointing forward as if they see the shore of hope and happiness right at arm’s length, what a
wonderful and joyful scene! Don’t you think this is what we all desperately need to see now?
The lines of his adroit skills make his world more elegant and beautiful. In the tradition of Chinese ink drawing, the expression of the line is a basic and powerful technique no artist can avoid if he is to prove he is a fine painter. Li
Wang’s colors are different, not much like those you find in history. A lot of warm tone colors are applied, and less black ink. He lets his colors spread densely on rice paper, making his paintings original and unique.
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Schedule
from October 12, 2017 to October 30, 2017