Recent Works by Wang Jinsong

Best known for his conceptual photography and oil painting, Wang Jinsong has experimented with ink painting over the last few years in order to refresh his thinking by re-connecting with the cultural legacy of China's past.

His new series of ink paintings illustrates the practices of Tai Chi – the classical Chinese athletics based on the slow and rigorously disciplined movements deriving from the martial arts. The purpose of Tai Chi is to free the flow of bodily energy, or "qi". Wang Jinsong believes the slow movements of Tai Chi demonstrate a critical alternative to the rush of contemporary capitalist society where specific purposes are attached to any act, dictating that one not merely moves but 'moves on' towards something, usually in the direction of materialistic goals.

Wang Jinsong has been a leading exponent of the Chinese avant-garde since the early 1990s, shortly after his graduation from the elite Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1987. Since then he has been part of the experimental Chinese art scene working with oil painting and photography, but in recent years he has taken up ink painting again – the medium Wang Jinsong describes as "my first love and my ideal medium". His ink paintings in this series are particularly pertinent to the concept he wishes to express; namely that alternative modes co-exist with and challenge the busy and functional modes we now think of as emblematic of the new China.