Wang Yin

signed in Chinese, dated 2008

Private Collection, China

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Wang Yin's works are a unique contribution to the discourse of contemporary Chinese art. As the curator Pi Li argues, "On the one hand, he personally experienced the dramatic changes of contemporary Chinese art since the 90's. On the other, he always maintained a distance from the mainstream." Born to parents who were both in the art world, Wang Yin studied painting from a young age. He was deeply influenced by the Soviet-style art education he received at the Central Academy of Drama. Relative to works by other artists of his generation, Wang Yin's paintings have a much stronger sense of drama and mise-en-scène. These characteristics relate to his experience in dance aesthetics, but also embody his clear-minded meditations on individuality. As contemporary Chinese art emerged onto the world stage in the 90's, there was a rush to showcase humanitarianism and political judgment. In some ways, Wang Yin's calmness represents a dispelling of this past mentality.

 Since 2000 Wang Yin has focused on refining his own artistic language. From his experiments with pointillist technique in the early 2000's to a group of portraits made in 2006, his brushwork became increasingly assured and economical. Whilst his overall forms remain clear, the faces of his human figures become increasingly distorted . On the Train (2008), featuring a man leaning against a bunk bed in a train car, dates from precisely this transitional period. Wang Yin's is not so much interested in presenting a snapshot from life as he is in experimenting with painterly style. . In 2013, Wang exhibited a new work entitled On the Train 2. It has an identical composition, but here Wang muddles all details of the figure and the scene with flat brushwork. Wang Yin wants to express the salient thoughts of different periods and perspectives using a single set image. Revisiting and repeating On the Train over time, he engages in a satisfying exploration of artistic language and ideas.