Wucius Wong

signed WANG WUXIE, titled, inscribed, and dated 2007
titleslip: each signed WANG WUXIE, titled, and dated 2007

United Kingdom, London, Saatchi Gallery, Ink: The Art of China, 19 June - 5 July, 2012, p. 116
Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, The Origin of Dao: New Dimensions in Chinese Contemporary Art, 17 May - 18 August, 2013, p. 107

Kuo, Jason C., Chinese Ink Painting Now, Distributed Art Publishers, New York, USA; Timezone 8, Hong Kong, China, 2010, p.93

Overall in good condition. Hanging scroll size: 229 x 214 cm; 90 1/8 x 84 1/4 in.
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Wucius Wong is recognised as a trail-blazing modernist of ink painting in Hong Kong as well as for his masterful synthesis of traditional Chinese aesthetics with western culture and contemporary design in his paintings. He studied traditional ink painting with Lui Shou Kwan and received a BFA and MFA in art and design from the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore. Throughout his time abroad, he was exposed to the works of Itten, Klee, Kandinsky and Albers, which catalysed a departure from the Chinese tradition towards an arrival at geometric landscapes and ink paintings in pure abstraction. Simultaneously, he continued to create landscapes that capture the monumental grandeur of Song dynasty paintings and emphasise the lighting techniques found in Western oil paintings. While based on traditional landscape forms, Wucius Wong's paintings present an otherworldly vision of worlds filled with cosmic energy. His dynamic compositions are stirring images that firmly establish Wong as one of the most innovative Chinese artists of his generation.

The Spirit of Sky and Land series combines all characteristics from Wucius Wong's earlier works from different phases, and represents his established painting style that developed over the past fifty years. As stated by the artist in 2008, "My work aims to capture the spirit of sky and land which fully occupies my heart, fills my eyes, and invigorates my brush. At a glance, some of my work may look abstract. Actually representational elements are always there, and they are usually related to the Chinese tradition. As most Chinese landscape paintings leave the sky blank, I love to fill it with clouds and mist without clearly defining the horizon. My recent work aims to show the sky and land to express the immensity of space beyond ordinary landscapes."