Wei Ligang

signed WEI LIGANG in pencil and dated 2008

United Kingdom, London, Saatchi Gallery, Ink: The Art of China, 19 June - 5 July, 2012, p. 147

Kuo, Jason C., Chinese Ink Painting Now, Distributed Art Publishers, New York, USA; Timezone 8, Hong Kong, China, 2010, p.125

Overall in good condition. Hanging scroll size: 403 x 169.5 cm; 158 5/8 x 66 3/4 in.
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Wei Ligang's explorations in Chinese calligraphy and painting represent an evolution in a long history of arts and culture in China. Recent scholars assert that the explorations in abstract ink painting trace to the Ming dynasty in the time of Fu Shan, the calligrapher from Shanxi Province who combined a cursive writing style with the characters of archaic seal script. Wei holds a great affinity towards Fu Shan as they are both from the same region in China and are similarly attuned to the values inherent to calligraphy as the structural basis in painting.  As a mathematics major, Wei applies an intellectual rigor that results in conceptual depth in his compositions and experimentations with mixed media. As an artist, he is recognized by connoisseurs for his literati spirit as a preserver of tradition and culture.

Wei's constant focus on language is visualized within the grid system of Chinese writing and his paintings elegantly illustrate his writings and idioms in a pictorial form. These works allude to archaic and traditional scripts, but remain steadfastly contemporary. Fluid black lines meander through a brilliant gold foreground, applied with acrylic and paying tribute to the calligraphic philosophy that regards positive and negative space as equal. It is Wei's constant focus on the line—its contrast against the background or foreground and the formal meander through of the brush and ink—that remains steadfast to the conventions in Chinese calligraphy and painting. Nevertheless, the final image is clearly an evolution of the tradition to incorporate new media and abstract expression.