Wang Nong Sumi-e Show

Wang Nong

June 4 - July 7, 2010

Song of Silence

A Quiet Journey into Solitude

"Making art is like having a conversation. I like to speak simply.

I like to speak the truth." - Wong Nong

About the Artist

Wang Nong is a Tokyo-based Chinese artist. Born in Beijing in 1953 as the second son of respected Chinese philosopher Wang Sen-Ran 王森然, Wang aspired to be an artist since childhood. His dream was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, when he was imprisoned for six years in the remote Heilongjiang (Black Dragon River) District, known as the Northern Vast Wilderness in northern China. Without access to painting materials, Wang found respite by mentally painting the austere landscapes in his mind. By the time Wang returned to Beijing in 1975, he had missed the opportunity for a higher education. He felt a great sense of loss for his generation.

To find emotional consolation, he began to turn memories of the Northern Vast Wilderness into startlingly beautiful sumi-e (brush and ink paintings). His bold distinctive style of contemporary sumi-e gradually gained recognition. In 1987, Wang was chosen to represent Chinese artists for a solo exhibition in Holland, on invitation by the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. His work became part of the permanent collection by the museum. Soon afterward, Wang became the first Chinese artist invited to work in Japan under a new cultural exchange program. He received an award in the National Premier Sumi-e Painting Exhibition. A year later, Wang finally fulfilled his dream and entered a graduate program in Tokyo Metropolitan University. After finishing the program, he joined the National Chiba University as a visiting scholar. In the ensuing years, Wang exhibited widely and became one of the most sought after contemporary sumi-e artists. By the time Wang launched his American debut in Touching Stone Gallery in 2001, he had more than 100 exhibitions in his career.

Wang's paintings are said to have captured the soul of the land. When Wang travels, he rarely paints. Instead, he lets himself absorbed into the landscapes and focuses on his feelings. Back in his studio, he would pour those feelings into his works. Wang's paintings are not mere reproduction of static scenery. They are an intimate communion with the artist. They convey a powerful sense of melancholic beauty and quiet tranquility, tension between unspeakable loss and passionate romance, evoking resonance in the receptive audience. If art is indeed a personal dialog, Wang's paintings are profound eloquent statements, spoken with complete honesty from the heart of a great artist.