Always on the lookout for emerging talent and innovative painters, this writer set out on a recent Sunday afternoon to meet up with fellow RISD alumnus and rising star Wang Ziping. She is represented by J. Yuan & Associates LLC, an art advisory and services center based in New York.  They provide various services to collectors, architects/interior designers, and emerging artists, with a clear mission of enriching their lives and helping them to reach a higher level of career achievements. Under their kind auspices,  this young ingenue is enjoying her first solo exhibition, “Daydreaming: Wang Ziping New Paintings”. She is the benefactress of their newly minted “Young Artist Art Salon”,  the main program under the associations’ Services For Young Talent.  Her work received a recent nod from ArtNet. Engaging and bright, Wang is currently an MFA candidate at Pratt Institute and is set to graduate next year. We listen in on a recent conversation:

Q: Your paintings are intriguing. What is the inspiration behind them?

A: My paintings are visual representations of modified conversations. For example, you might see meat on the right side of the painting or what might [appear] as an orange or really delicious food…but knowing the fact that it is very delicious doesn’t help you to understand the whole painting. Similarly in conversations, we talk about cute animals, but you don’t know if I’m a horrible person or not…so [my paintings] represent [the fact that] you will never know what is truly me”.

Q: Are you saying people keep up fronts? Appearances?

A: Exactly. It also depends on the cultural context and the political contexts. It really [encompasses the question of] who is the gatekeeper in deciding what is appropriate and what is not?  These things interest me.

Wang Ziping “He Wipes His Mouth with a Decent Napkin”, (2017) 12 x 36 in. Oil, fabric, painted panels and collage on canvas / Image courtesy of the artist.

For inquiry and artwork sales: info@jyuanassociates.com and sales@jyuanassociates.com

A: I come from mainland China.

Q: Would you say that this approach is similar to the concept of “keeping face” as is practiced in the eastern culture?  I feel that here, in New York – if I don’t like you –  I can say it to your face, whereas in Asia, there are cultural constraints in how and what we say to each other.

A: I would say that it relates to my heritage in that I was raised in China. I came to the United States six year ago. Before that I was predominantly in China..I feel that in the States, there are also things that are not [spoken] of.  I can say “I don’t like you” –  which is a New York thing. Another example [may be found] in an art school critique where others must critique another’s work; you don’t go directly and …say “this composition isn’t working”; Instead you begin by saying “Oh, I like  your use of color and the subject matter...”

Q: In school I had a teacher named Al Wunderlich who practiced a style of criticism that was similar to building a sandwich:  First, he would give you the positive feedback, then the part you needed to work on, then he finished by reinforcing the positive.  The objective was to not totally shoot you down. [laughs].

A: [Laughs] Yes, I would say it’s something similar. In actuality, people don’t want to make the person being criticized feel badly.

Q: In essence, you’re saying that your paintings are a reflection of how people, in their daily conversations, dance around the heart of the matter? I feel that what you are arriving at is the conviction that people we know and associate with may hide behind a persona.

Wang Ziping, “A Tender Bubblegum”  柔软的泡泡糖, (2019)

Oil on panel 板上油画 9 x 12 in. / Signed by the artist.

JY&ANY30001 /  Image courtesy of the artist.

For inquiry and artwork sales: info@jyuanassociates.com and sales@jyuanassociates.com

Q: It’s fascinating how you say work focuses on “gatekeeping”.  Please tell me about “Tender Bubble Gum”?

A: All my paintings contain titles that are ambiguous. There is a conversation going on that refers to conversational filling. It is directly related to how people are uncomfortable speaking about intimacy.

Q:  What is the art scene like in China? What are the differences in the Eastern aesthetic versus the Western aesthetic.

A: There are two predominant focuses happening simultaneously. For example, the artists in the generation of Ai WeiWei, are in my opinion, practicing therapeutic art. They experienced the Cultural Revolution and their art reflects the politics. They are doing this as a group, and for me, this is similar to group therapy. This is similar to Communism in their approach. Everyone is touching on [the same] topic, and in so doing, have [foregone] their own individuality. So when I look at their paintings, I feel that they are performing cool and brave acts but I don’t see myself in [their works]. [

Q:  So you’re saying that the older generation needs to get rid of cultural baggage. What about the newer generation?

A: I was born in 1995. My generation hasn’t experienced [the lack and hardship] that the previous generation experienced. We have all the comforts of the modern era…I feel that there is a constant battle within myself with the previous generation; What the [older generation] speaks about is not representative of who I am. The younger Chinese artists are not part of the dialog that took place in the sixties or seventies.

Q: When you were at RISD, where there many Chinese students?

A: In my year there were twenty and the year thereafter, the number exploded tremendously.

Q: In the painting “Holding You Like a Giant Peach”, I see a puff pastry. Would you say that your imagery is eastern or western? Or both?

A: I like to watch cooking shows and in my paintings, I like to give one recognizable object. That one object comes from mass culture which is appropriate and easy to talk about. Think of food, cute animals or vibrant and cheerful colors. I intentionally give a visual clue for people to center on…The painting intentionally “tricks” you to know what it is.

Above left:  Wang Ziping, “Cabinet of Irregularities”  放着不规则体的厨柜,

(2018) Oil on panel 板上油画 9 x 12 in. / Signed by the artist. / JY&ANY30006 /

Above right:  Wang Ziping, “I Float in Coffee Steam”  我漂浮在咖啡的热气中,

(2018) Oil on Panel 板上油画 9 x 12 in. / Signed by the artist.  / JY&ANY30007 /

Images courtesy of the artist. Inquiry and artwork sales:

 info@jyuanassociates.com and sales@jyuanassociates.com

Q:  You seem to say that your paintings offer an inroad or “open door” to something soft, safe or fluffy.  Please tell me a little about “Cabin of Irregularities”.

A: The background is a stage set and the foreground [represents] an orange edifice similar to a stage prop. The cactus and amorphous pink limb/amorphous shape are ambiguous [in that] they are trying so hard to become something recognizable. It is the “ambiguity’ in conversation that I’m striving for.

This writer finds it refreshing that institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and various art publications are rethinking the much overlooked dearth of women artists and people of color represented  in the art world. Wang Ziping is part of not only a new generation of Chinese artists but of female artists that will see recognition of their labor. And on that note, J. Yuan & Associates LLC is proud to report that  “Fragmented Memories” (2016) Oil on canvas was recently sold to collector Marc J. Halsema. It is the first artwork by a Chinese woman to grace his collection.

“Daydreaming: Wang Ziping New Paintings” may be seen at J. Yuan & Associates LLC info@jyuanassociates.com by appointment only.