Guang Yao Wu Exhibition
23 Mai 2024
Guang Yao Wu
Guang Yao Wu, born in 1959 in Shanghai, China, studied at the Shanghai School of Art and at the Central Academy of Art in Beijing. Wu left the country in 1989 for political reasons following the events at the Tian’men Square and completed his studies at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe in 1995. He still lives and works there today.
Dr. Dorothea van der Koelen – gallerist, publisher and art historian – has been working closely with the artist since 1998. This fruitful cooperation has resulted in several solo exhibitions – in 2004, 2009, 2017 and most recently in 2020 – several participations in the gallery’s celebrated themed exhibitions as well as its art fair presentations and, last but not least, a publication by Chorus Publishing for Art and Science.
Wu’s understanding of art is constituted at the interface between Western art tradition and Far Eastern philosophy. These two poles feed his individual visual language, which combines the basic principles of ‘Constructivism’ and ‘Minimal Art’ with the world of ideas of Chinese culture.
Guang Yao Wu is best known to the international art world for his Drip paintings developed since the late 1990s and the series Stroke (since 2009). The artist uses unprimed canvases for his line paintings. He applies the paint with vigorous brushstrokes from top right to bottom left on a picture surface no larger than the reach of his arms. But Wu’s application of paint differs fundamentally from the calm and calculated brushstroke of the classical painter: he slaps the paint onto the canvas more than he paints, and he wants to depict nothing but the process of painting itself.
Wu’s stroke paintings are – according to their spirit, but also (at least in some of the works in the current exhibition) according to their coloring – equally inspired by intellect and emotion. As a clever mind and scholar of art history – influenced equally by Cézanne and Monet – his works are based on a construction. The execution, however, is characterized by emotion, action, discharge. And his medium – be it oil paint on canvas, but equally his ink drawings – allows no corrections, no reworking or concealment. Wu’s works are authentic in the best sense of the word – an expression of himself as he paints.
On June 8, 2024 at 4 pm – in the presence of the artist – we will open Guang Yao Wu’s new exhibition entitled Noch ein Mal(en) – Fünf Strichgemälde. After a welcome by gallerist Dr. Dorothea van der Koelen, art critic Michael Hübl – known from Kunstforum international – will give the opening speech. We cordially invite you all to visit us on this memorable day at the Cadoro – Center for Art and Science and to celebrate the opening of this epoch-making exhibition with us. The show will be on display at the Cadoro until July 31, 2024.
