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*Wuhan
- Title
- „self-identical“
- Time
- 2022
- signed
- and dated verso "Wang Xiaosong 2022"
- Technique
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 43,3×49,2×9,8 in
Wang Xiaosong is one of China‘s most internationally renowned contemporary artists and acts as a mediator between his native country and the West. Born in 1964 in Wuhan, he studied at the Central Academy of Art & Design Beijing from 1983 to 1987. In 1990, he moved to Berlin and continued his studies at the Hochschule der Künste. In 1994, he became a member of the German Artists‘ Association. In 2003, Wang Xiaosong returned to China, where he was appointed professor and dean of the Faculty of Design at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. His works are held in major collections, including the National Art Museum of China, the Ludwig Museum in Koblenz, and the Künstlerhaus in Vienna. In 2011, Wang Xiaosong participated in the 54th Venice Biennale, where he created a counterpoint to the official China Pavilion.
The work “self-identical” is the result of a complex creative process. Wang Xiaosong begins by bonding multiple canvases together with resin, shaping them into a three-dimensional form. After a drying period of ten hours, the resin hardens, and the piece takes on its final structure. The application of oil paint is the final step.
The surface, initially soft and malleable at the beginning of the process, retains the illusion of fabric-like softness hrough the artist’s sculptural modeling and the realistic flow of painted stripes. The richly folded relief of the drapery, with depths of up to 9 ¾ in., transcends the boundaries of traditional painting and enters the realm of sculpture.