Xinyong Wang - The Fusion of East and West in the World of Contemporary Art

"Happiness" by Xinyong Wang

Xinyong Wang is an artist with his own style that blends the traditions of Chinese calligraphy and ink painting with Western influences and his own innovative techniques. His artistic creations reflect the many flavors of East and West fusion, an integration between cultures that opens the boundaries through the arts for creative expression. While some artists choose to build bridges between East and West cultures, others such as Wang, choose to merge cultures by mixing and blending traditional Chinese and Western techniques and developing their own personal style of contemporary art.

"No-Self" by Xinyong Wang

Wang studied at a well-known art school China, the Nanjing Arts Institute and China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts, and has been studying painting and calligraphy for over 20 years. He continually works at developing new techniques to keep his art distinctive and on the cutting edge. He is passionate about ink painting, which he sees as a critical element of his Chinese identity, yet enjoys traveling to expand his knowledge of art from Western cultures. Wang has traveled to the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries to study abroad, absorbing the techniques of Western oil painting, fresco, sculpture, architecture, and other artistic styles.

There is a special charm to Xinyong Wang's paintings that is whimsical, introspective, and warm-hearted. He likes to tell a story by either capturing a moment in nature, or incorporating symbolism from Chinese culture to communicate a message through his art. Like the painting "Happiness", where the green reptile is watching a balloon pass by above him. You can see the curiosity of the green reptile, as he is perched on a piece of wood that looks to be a dead tree branch looking up at the balloon. In the painting, there are the Western influences of realism with the many delicate, precise brush strokes that created the subject matter - the detailed representation of the wood grain, the use of light and shadow, and the use of shaded color to create the realism of the green reptile and balloon. The textured paper and space around the subjects adds the Chinese influence of an unpainted background, along with the refined mastery of ink brush technique and Chinese paint. In Western art, a painting typically has a foreground and background and would include a painted sky along with the other surrounding elements of nature that would depict the rest of the scene.

"Dancing with the Wind" by Xinyong Wang"

In the paintings, "No-Self" and "Dancing with the Wind", seed pods from the lotus flower are featured which are a symbol of prosperity and "many decendents" (offspring) in Chinese culture. The seed pods are created with such exceptional detail and realism, along with a pleasing composition that gives you a sense of graceful movement and style, and that they are really dancing and moving in the wind. While the hands that hold the seed pods are simply created in white and have very little detail, they do in fact, look a bit like white gloves, with the fingers interestingly gestured in an animated and whimsical manner.

"Freedom-3" by Xinyong Wang

In another East and West fusion painting style, "Freedom-3", Wang creates a mosaic-inspired painting that also looks like a handmade quilt, and features parts of butterflies in the center squares. While butterflies are typically a symbol of freedom in Western cultures, in Chinese culture they are a symbol of immortality and bliss. This leaves the viewer open to their interpretation, but at first look, there does appear to be a flurry of butterflies flying around in the center with the many parts of wings in the painting creating the illusion of movement. This another painting done in remarkable detail and refinement that showcases the mastery of Wang's ink and painting skills when blended with Western influences and culture in his East and West fusion style.

Currently living in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, Xinyong Wang has participated in many art exhibitions, lectures and cultural exchanges in Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Taos, as well the J. Wayne Stark Galleries at Texas A&M University, Brazos Valley Art Center, and Asia Study Center at Michigan State University. Wang is a member of the Artists Association & Calligraphers Association in Jiangsu Province, Chairman of Jiangsu Micro Technology & Culture Co. Ltd., Executive Vice President of the US- Jiangsu General Chamber of Commerce, and Deputy Director of the Culture and Arts Commission of the US-Jiangsu General Chamber of Commerce.

Xinyong Wang at his exhibition "Love Letters to Nature" at the Ning Zhou Gallery in Laguna Beach, California