In Between Color and Mood: Qianjiang Series

By / Claire Lee 

With its sole focus on beauty of form, abstract art has played an important role in guiding the transformation of traditional Chinese art into a contemporary form.  Throughout the development of Chinese abstract painting, great emphasis has always been placed on a return to tradition and on the cultivation of an artist’s personal style - from the independent retro style themes in the 80s that abstracted local visual language to the postmodern movement of today, which focuses on transcending limitations of media, form, and technique.  Faced with the cultural impacts as East meets West, Chinese artists pioneered their own unique and distinctive styles of abstract art.

Looking back at the art scene in China, Wang Yigang stands out as one of the most representative artists who use abstract forms and artistic language for their creative style.   Wang began his creative career of three decades with Western Cubism.  After experimenting with the juxtaposition of figurative and pop art images, he slowly turned his focus to abstract expressions for the creation of dialogues in traditional Chinese landscapes.  During each stage in his career, Wang continued to seek breakthroughs, while challenging himself to express diversity and innovation within his paintings.

From Minor Bareness (2002-2003) to This is Not Chinese Landscape (2007) to Made in USA (2007-2008), Wang’s art style has lingered between abstract and figurative art over the past decade.  His main visual language is composed of cultural images and icons.  After completing the Qianjiang Series in 2010, Wang once again used abstract forms as the visual language for his work.  As one of the first Chinese artists to create abstract art, Wang holds a soft spot for abstract art.  Since the mid 90s, he had already produced a large quantity of abstract expressionist hand drawings.  Vivid colors and wild strokes expressed his emotions and passion for the exploration of artistic forms, and the creation of abstract, sensuous worlds that belonged to a different reality within his works.  Yet, his recent Qianjiang series do not exhibit the same lyrical abstractions often seen in his earlier works.  Amongst the layers of colors intertwined with expressions of personal emotions, Wang infuses the aesthetic tradition of Chinese literati painting.  On one side, he leverages the visual language of Western abstract art, while, on another, he explores the spirit of local culture and art.  This is Wang’s attempt to search for a connection with Chinese cultural heritage.  His new 2012 works, which are a part of the Qianjiang series, are a departure from his earlier “political pop art” and  “gaudy art” styles.  The theme and style of these works are pure expressions of his personal outlooks.

 In terms of style, Qianjiang Series is a combination of figurative and abstract styles.  Amongst the background of the abstract composition are faint traces of figurative Chinese landscapes and literary symbols painted in ink.  Images of qianjiang landscapes are covered by abstract forms, forming a unique style of abstract landscape painting.  In terms of composition, works of this series are endowed with a stunning visual tension.  The thick smears of oil paint and subtle ink outlines form a strong contrast between roughness and softness.  This is an attempt by the artist to bring Chinese and Western art closer together.  By using Western abstract styles to express Eastern landscapes, the two converge in a unified creative concept.  On the canvas filled with ink splashes and oil paint smears, Wang includes characters that are like personal notes for adding an extra layer of poetic flair to the painting.  These character icons do not hold any specific symbolic meaning.  The gibberish writings are only an abstract language, which, like the pigments and lines, are just one of the painting’s elements.  They surface as characters at the bottom of the image, and subtly reveal the connection between the artist’s state of mind and inner feelings.

Colors are a means for expressing feelings in the Qianjiang series.  Wang chose a color pallet that is quintessential to traditional Chinese qianjiang paintings.  The dark, cold primary color is interlaced with warmer tones, such as green, indigo, and red ocher, that intertwine through stippling and splashing by the artist. Accumulating layer after layer, the overlapping and mixing of colors reveal the consciousness of the artist’s brush and trace its path.  Wang insists on using qianjiang colors because he feels that they lie closer to the sentiments of Eastern people and that they express unique Eastern qualities.  They are restrained and subtle, exuding an atmosphere of uncertainty.  In this series, the colors are also a means for conveying a concept.  The drizzling of paint and splashing of ink create a space on the canvas.  They are also used to cover, hide, or dissolve an image, creating a sense of “incompleteness” and chaos.  The artist associates the character, “Can (the Chinese word for incomplete),” with the character, “Chan (the Chinese word for Zen).”  By have colors intertwine and stand in contrast to each other amidst reality and void, as well as the consciousness and unconsciousness, a Chinese expression of an abstract style is achieved.   

By expressing concepts of abstract art forms, narrating emotions through colors, and creating an abstract language that belongs to China, Wang presents a unique spiritual and conceptual style that stems from the traditions of Chinese art and philosophy.  This not only marks a revolution in Wang’s personal style, but also stands as a unique aspect of Chinese abstract art.  Inspirations based on Western abstract language and infused with Eastern compositions, philosophy, and humanistic spirit - this is probably where the intrinsic difference between Chinese and Western abstract art lies.