Curator by Fang-Wei Chang
■11.12 Sun.
15:00-16:30
Artist Talk
Suling Wang x Fang-Wei Chang
16:30 Opening
■12.02 Sat.
15:00-16:30
Book Launching
Nature’s Echo
Sarah Tanguy / Art historian and independent curator and writer based in Washington, DC, USA
Mountain Language, the Chinese title of this exhibition, was first the title of a one-act play by the British playwright Harold Pinter, published in 1988. Suling Wang was born and grew up in Qingshui in central Taiwan and lived in London for more than twenty years. Through her strong awareness to the principles of Chinese landscape paintings, as well as the Western abstract painting traditions and technical concepts of modern abstract painting, she developed a unique painting vocabulary all her own. Mixing Eastern and Western cultural elements, her art deploys a rich emotive sensibility to convey a new sense of imagery, opening a new chapter in contemporary art.
Implicit within her paintings is a structure of multiple viewpoints from the Chinese painting tradition that guides the viewer’s eyes to look down on the entire scene from above. The overall motive force and kinetic state of her painting structure reflect the high-paced fluidity of contemporary society, as well as the temporal consciousness found in many areas of Chinese culture, such as the aesthetics of classical painting. Also present is the expression of notions related to the unending force of life—the complementary concepts of “movement” originating in Confucianism and Taoism, a sense of vital cadence and animation, and change. Her use of bold lines and brushstrokes leads to a visual experience of motion and vitality, emphasizing the dynamic, fluid nature of reality, thought, and artistic expression.
The exhibition presents a series of new paintings developed by Suling Wang over the last few years (2020-2023) since she returned to Taiwan from the UK.