Wang Zhongjie: River Valley of Love

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Tang Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the opening of the solo exhibition by Wang Zhongjie, titled River Valley of Love,  at our Hong Kong Central Space on December 2.

Life, death, their mutual bond, and the human effort to interpret them are the main recurring themes in the works of Wang Zhongjie. Personal growth, as well as the development of a deeper awareness and an inner freedom by way of great suffering, have forged a language capable of properly expressing the changes undergoing the painter’s soul, adapting to his ever-increasing maturity.

The works dating back to the first decade of the century swept us over with their power and innovative qualities; we were struck by the very unusual choices in colors and subjects, utterly different from the mainstream Chinese art world of the time. They were “figurative” paintings, alternating dark tones and strong shades, always juxtaposed in unexpected ways. Those works could not leave one indifferent, able as they were to strike a chord in the viewers’ rational as well as emotional sides.

As a self-taught painter, Wang Zhongjie has been able to enjoy greater expressive freedom than his academy-trained peers, his art not being compromised by externally imposed rules and restrictions. An extensive knowledge of art history tied with his extreme sensitivity has driven him to experiment ceaselessly with the endless possibilities of the pictorial medium, processed from an utterly personal perspective that steadfastly ignores any outside pressure.

The first works are then followed by what could be conveniently described as a “metaphysical” phase, in which the same existential themes undergo a purifying and dematerializing process: on the one hand, they become more abstract (large monochromatic areas defined by straight or curved lines, geometrical shapes, doors, mysterious vessels with unknown content); on the other hand, they become strongly symbolic, in the guise of recurring animals such as the rooster, the dog/wolf, the monkey…

Wang Zhongjie’s intimate, peculiar relationship with painting—something akin to hand-to-hand combat, where every stroke is the result of a deeply felt inner experience—later brings him to simplify the appearance of his paintings even further, by suspending the color range into polychrome frames surrounding and defining an internal “void”. The latter is pure light, expressed with a vibrant quality that relates to a deeper reality, something before and beyond the individual exterior shapes we can perceive. These works, repeated and perfected by the artist for about a decade, hint at life energy in its primeval state.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Wang Zhongjie’s recent solo exhibitions include: “Out of Nothing and Nowhere: Wang Zhongjie” (Gallery MC, Shenzhen, 2022); “2016-9-28 ~ 2019-2-24: Wang Zhongjie,” (Magician Space, Beijing, 2019); “Not any Where” (Museum of Contemporary Art, Lisson, 2018); ”Dark Clouds Blue Sky” (Spazio Kn, Trento,2017); ”Wang Zhongjie” (Magician Space, Beijing, 2016); “In The Need of Light,” (Moart Space, Zheng Zhou, 2016); “Dark Clouds Blue Sky”（Ex-chiesetta del Redentore, Vigolo Vattaro (TN), 2014); “Stalker and His Shadow” (Magician Space, Beijing, 2012); “Dark Clouds Blue Sky” (Isolo 17, Verona, 2012); ”Dark Clouds Blue Sky” (Baraccano, Bologna, 2012) etc.