WU Yiming’s ink painting expresses a scholarly temperament while firmly rooted in the artist’s experience as a person living in today’s urban environment. Instead of following his preceding scholars whose painting subjects were often embedded with strong symbolic meanings, WU takes subjects from his everyday life. He depicts plants with or without names, city lights, urban people, Song Dynasty porcelains and even small insects such as cockroaches, showing forth an intensified personalization closely related to the contemporary social reality. While rendered in a seemingly casual way, the images are nevertheless utterly elegant with rich texture of ink and colors applied in a multiplicity of layers on Xuan paper.
To WU, the ideology of ancient scholars of seeking political achievements or becoming lofty hermits is no longer applicable in our time, and it is essential for an artist to confront the reality, society and oneself directly and sincerely. He said: “I have always reminded myself to keep an independent judgment and avoid being superficial.” Such judgment is based on the artist’s perception and reflection of the reality rather than great achievements of the past generations. Traces of awkwardness, agitation or discomfort can always be sensed in his elegantly depicted works, reflecting the artist’s vigilance towards the contemporary society. WU exerts his outstanding ability of ink painting with rich colors, vivid brushstrokes and self-expression, which constituted precisely the unique style and quality of his artwork.
WU Yiming was born in 1966 in Shanghai and graduated from the Fine Arts Department of East China Normal University. He now lives and works in Shanghai.
