Wang Yabin
Wang Yabin: In Search of Lost Time
2023.11.17 - 12.30
TRIUMPH GALLERY is pleased to present “In Search of Lost Time,” the latest solo exhibition of Wang Yabin, which runs from November 17th, 2023 to December 30th, 2023. The title of this exhibition is taken from the seven-character poem The Sad Zither by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Shangyin, through which the artist reflects on the passage of time and the remembrance of the bygone, as well as his lasting interest in the interpretation of art in Lao-Zhuang Taoism.
Wang Yabin was born in Henan Province in 1974 and graduated from the Art Department of Henan Normal University in 1994. As a leading figure in Chinese contemporary painting, Wang Yabin has garnered much attention for his distinctive style, which the painterly language of the West to convey an Eastern sensitivity. The early works of the artist centered more on the “narrative” but he has turned to a more “Xieyi (to transcribe the idea)” mode in the last decade. He draws inspiration from a plethora of sources such as literature, history, poetry, and classic and modern art. Through his unfettered imagination and inner experience, he finds a balance between the traditional and the contemporary, the East and the West, allowing him to weave his fantasies into beings.
This exhibition will showcase a series of recent paintings Wang Yabin has embarked on since 2020. Directly inspired by the enchanting lines in Li Shangyin’s The Sad Zither, these paintings reveal a splendid yet subtle vision. The artist has refined and developed the form of his subjects to an extreme that hovers in a transitory state between abstraction and figuration. His commanding gesture of sweeping and splashing veils his subjects with layers of fluctuating paint, transforming them into beings that “swim” across these layers. Wang’s meticulous control over the hue and the texture conjures up on his paintings the surface of ancient Chinese murals and the pictorial tension of Western paintings, bestowing his compositions an allegorical and symbolic significance.
Wang Yabin was born in Henan Province in 1974 and graduated from the Art Department of Henan Normal University in 1994. As a leading figure in Chinese contemporary painting, Wang Yabin has garnered much attention for his distinctive style, which the painterly language of the West to convey an Eastern sensitivity. The early works of the artist centered more on the “narrative” but he has turned to a more “Xieyi (to transcribe the idea)” mode in the last decade. He draws inspiration from a plethora of sources such as literature, history, poetry, and classic and modern art. Through his unfettered imagination and inner experience, he finds a balance between the traditional and the contemporary, the East and the West, allowing him to weave his fantasies into beings.
This exhibition will showcase a series of recent paintings Wang Yabin has embarked on since 2020. Directly inspired by the enchanting lines in Li Shangyin’s The Sad Zither, these paintings reveal a splendid yet subtle vision. The artist has refined and developed the form of his subjects to an extreme that hovers in a transitory state between abstraction and figuration. His commanding gesture of sweeping and splashing veils his subjects with layers of fluctuating paint, transforming them into beings that “swim” across these layers. Wang’s meticulous control over the hue and the texture conjures up on his paintings the surface of ancient Chinese murals and the pictorial tension of Western paintings, bestowing his compositions an allegorical and symbolic significance.
Wang Yabin
Wang Yabin was born in Henan Province in 1974 and graduated from the Art Department of Henan Normal University in 1994. Currently lives and works in Zhengzhou, Henan Province and Huangshan, Anhui Province.
As a leading figure in Chinese contemporary painting, Wang Yabin specializes in using western painting techniques to display eastern landscapes and figures. He says, "It is my artistic choice to draw on the forms and languages of Western art with Eastern aesthetic thought and Chinese culture as the core".
His paintings have always presented a rich look and coherent threads, starting from a keen inner experience, incorporating complex thoughts and emotions into the language of painting. Each stage of his works is unique, and he completes the transformation of his artistic language amidst different experiences and perceptions, with varied themes that keep advancing in the midst of extension.
As a leading figure in Chinese contemporary painting, Wang Yabin specializes in using western painting techniques to display eastern landscapes and figures. He says, "It is my artistic choice to draw on the forms and languages of Western art with Eastern aesthetic thought and Chinese culture as the core".
His paintings have always presented a rich look and coherent threads, starting from a keen inner experience, incorporating complex thoughts and emotions into the language of painting. Each stage of his works is unique, and he completes the transformation of his artistic language amidst different experiences and perceptions, with varied themes that keep advancing in the midst of extension.
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