VICTOR WANG
"Dreaming of a Journey with Sunflowers"
November 7 - December 31
Atrium Gallery invites you to our exhibition of new paintings by nationally recognized, St. Louis based artist, Victor Wang. This newest body of work is even more intimate with the classical female figure as the center point, and symbol for the various emotions Wang expresses through these dramatic, narrative works.
He tries to capture the "journey" within his dreams in combination with experiences from his past. The sunflowers in his paintings symbolize memories of his childhood and the experiences he had during the Cultural Revolution in China when youths were pushed to work on farms as part of the "Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement." Wang's works retell his dreams, frustrations, hopes, and meditations in every significant moment of the past.
In some compositions, he uses hidden words and visual deceptions to connote the notion that political language can manipulate and visually distort one's beliefs and life. Concealed in the canvases are also some mythical elements from ancient Chinese culture. By looking back on his journey through life, Wang has siphoned through the deceptions he experienced as a youth and now tries to understand the true value of human life.
Through vibrant and thickly applied paint, energetic and hyperactive brushwork, Wang is able to immediately engage and fascinate viewers with his large-scale oil paintings. His timeless female figures coax, taunt, and intrigue, while a dense narrative of joy and pain unfolds in his brilliantly layered narrative works. Utilizing elements of collage on the canvases, he not only expresses his own Chinese heritage, but also creates a multi-layered background for the depiction of beauty in Western women. Victor Wang's haunting and bold canvases have become the visual equivalent of "East meets West."
"The Wings," 2012
oil on canvas
63" x 48"