One of the most promising artistic talents from China | Paintings with a radiating spirituality that are indebted to Chinese tradition but borrow formally from the West

Wang Guangle (* 1976) creates paintings that convey a radiating sense of spirituality through a balance of elements that suggest timelessness and contempo­raneity. The passing of time is a theme underlying much of his work, and his canvases also serve the function of a personal archive. Two of his recent se­ries are Terrazzo and Coffin Paint. In the first Wang’s striking abstract paintings are based on a unique mo­tif: detailed and meticulously rendered terrazzo floors in a varying array of colors. These images take weeks to develop, and the results readily recall the Color Field Painting of Abstract Expressionism. The Coffin Paint series is inspired by a tradition originating from his native region of Fujian, where it was once custom­ary for sixty-year-olds to buy their own casket and subsequently cover it with a new layer of Chinese lac­quer once a year—in a joyous celebration of longevity. The artist uses a related technique to develop paint­ings of an almost sculptural nature that convey im­mense spatial depth.