2026-03-03 12:27
In this age of consumption, along with the impact of information brought about by cultural and economic globalization, we have experienced the challenges posed by an unprecedented invasion of complex information. For the painter Wu Yiming, however, he is interested only in the trivial and ordinary things around him. His early paintings clearly adopted methods and concepts of Western modern art. Recently, he has resolutely bid farewell to those styles, thus taking a clear stance in grasping new tendencies of imagery. Gradually, he has made an overall pictorial generalization of the spatial structure and modeling methods in his ink paintings. He attempts to reduce the complexity of painting, making it more fluid and more plain; the structure of the painting thus appears very simple, enabling his images neither to reveal nor to conceal, but to present directly. He eliminates the three-dimensionality of materiality, layer by layer stripping away what lies behind the objects, disclosing a personalized aura and presenting the most precious part of the spiritual realm—the core that painting seeks to express.
Wu Yiming has always believed that in the process of exploring painting, the essence hidden behind materiality needs to be revealed by the artist. The stripping away in this creative process gradually becomes clear from vagueness amid uncertain times and uncertain states of mind. In this complicated world, those beautiful moments unconsciously solidify in his images. Of course, subject matter is not important to the artist; what he paints are mostly potted plants casually placed in the studio or inconspicuous roadside scenes. For us, real life is blurred, ambiguous, accidental, and uncertain; for Wu Yiming, the so-called real world is merely a fictional world. He solidifies them; what he cares about is how to seek that uncertain, even alienated, spiritual content within inconspicuous scenery. This is a free game that belongs to him, and he solidifies them together. This final “solidified object” is the highly self-sufficient spiritual product of the painter Wu Yiming.
I
Doubt and faith are both necessary. Doubt can destroy yesterday’s faith and clear the way for tomorrow’s faith. — Romain Rolland
Wu Yiming formed a bond with ink painting during his student years and is still deeply “entangled” with this medium. He is such a person: toward art and toward his environment, he holds an almost “faith-like” “persistence,” and this is fully manifested in his creations. At first glance at his paintings, you can sense a kind of “everyday” experience that the artist gives to his works. However, behind this “everydayness” lies his devotion to creation. A painting perspective full of “private intent,” picture construction filled with “deliberation,” and the abundant emotions presented in the image… For him, his works seem to be his children.
In several recent light-ochre bottle-flower and landscape paintings, Wu Yiming compresses the volumetric space of plants to the utmost visual effect. Beneath the pure brown tonality, a dark golden religious atmosphere is revealed. Within a dualistic relationship between objects, the interplay of emptiness and haziness among them, the overlapping and mutual reflection between object and space, create a transformation and echo of rhythm. Chaotic and flowing space fills the picture, forming a new and unrelated pictorial structure. He summarizes scenery with a sketch-like simplicity, giving viewers a sense of the passage of time while searching for fragmented truths within. The traditional painting concept of “counting white as black,” as well as the “unfinished quality of the work,” is fully retained. By using emptiness as substance, the plain and monotonous image begins to breathe, and the atmosphere becomes vibrant.
The basic forms of plants and landscapes and their geometrized structures form a new relationship. The naive method bears an intrinsic connection to the paintings of Cézanne and Matisse. Yet Wu Yiming’s art presents more of his personal values—a high unity of material and spirit. Wu Yiming has a peculiar intoxication with ordinary things; this is his understanding of the meaning of life and his grasp of his own existence. He believes that the true path of art can only unfold slowly through doubt toward “certainty” or established rules. Ordinary objects, tranquil atmospheres, and vacant scenes that create suffocatingly spiritual images are fully revealed in his works.
Wu Yiming has absolute faith in Chinese painting. However, his doubt toward tradition makes his painting so distinctive and meaningful. His “faith-like” persistence in ink art has by no means led him into blind adherence to Chinese tradition. He has never been a follower of any trend. On the contrary, amid the intense collision between Chinese and Western art today, Wu Yiming wisely understands the “contemporaneity” and “artistry” required by “contemporary art.” Compared with many artists around him, his images may seem too dispersed and too minimalist. His works continually emphasize and magnify the ordinary familiar to people, gazing at the world with a calm eye. Wu Yiming believes, “The tragedies in daily life are more real, more profound, and more reflective of humanity itself than those grand adventure-like tragedies.” In short, from a unique perspective on the ordinary, he reveals the present life of modern people, restoring life to its original appearance.
II
The heaviest burden in life is not work, but boredom. — Romain Rolland
Bonsai flowers, Song porcelain ornaments, lotus ponds in rustic charm, roadside scenes… all of these are the “life” to which Wu Yiming’s works linger. At the beginning of his painting career, Wu Yiming realized that the possibilities for innovation in painting were already few, and that the “impact” brought by painting had been replaced by media such as images. Gradually, he allowed his painting to return to plainness and boredom. He feels that the “meaning of his works wanders between an absurd side and a fanciful connotation.” His perspective always appears composed, observing calmly. For what he wants to capture is not only the object itself, but more importantly the memory of vision. This makes me curious: might such subject matter and such a personal perspective appear somewhat boring and dull? I would like to try to use the word “boredom” to give an alternative “praise” to Wu Yiming’s works. The “boredom” revealed in his paintings is the enjoyment of this boredom, the breaking of this boredom, and thus the emergence of a new “boredom.”
Wu Yiming’s “boredom” belongs to a subtle “foreign realm.” He seeps his “personal sentiments” bit by bit into every stroke, every color, every scene. There is no excessive emphasis, nor excessive realism; what he presents is a “boring self.” At the same time, the influence his paintings give us is likewise “boring.” He “implicitly” embeds his way of conducting himself and his standpoint into his works through painting: not proclaiming, not rebelling, not radical, not forcing. Here, “boredom” becomes a kind of “non-position.” If you understand, you understand. If you dislike it, so be it. Ancient painting and modern painting—Wu Yiming uses “boredom,” within a calligraphic flow, to perfectly “blend” the two together. He believes, “Without boredom, there is no creativity.” Personal painting and social painting—he calmly “juxtaposes” the two with an attitude of “boredom.”
Looking at Wu Yiming’s works allows us, under the heaviness of real life, a moment of lightness. Another plant slowly spreads, another Song porcelain quietly stands, another pond of lotus slowly blooms… This is true life—bit by bit, plain and ordinary, thread by thread. In the tradition of Chinese literati aesthetics, confronting “boredom” is confronting the impossibility of art. Wu Yiming believes true art is “microscopic,” without content or purpose, manifested as a sense of nothingness. He introduces the “everyday” into artistic creation, finding a new poetic quality between the “sense of boredom” in daily life and artistic self-cultivation. In his brush, “boredom” is no longer heavy; it requires careful reading and slow savoring, becoming a precious state of existence and awakening. I hope that when you view Wu Yiming’s works, you can also feel this “boredom.” This “boredom” refuses to undertake any specific social or political function. Believe me, the sensitivity, fragility, and quietness that arise from “boredom” will truly fascinate you and allow you to settle. For the artist, boredom is a potential; art may perhaps be only a mechanical repetition—more precisely, a kind of “practice.”
III
Everyone talks about happiness, but few truly understand it. — Romain Rolland
Wu Yiming’s ancestral home is Taihu, Suzhou. He is familiar with the soft Wu dialect, and his fondness for the gentle charm of Wu songs while tipsy remains to this day—especially his passion for Pingtan, which runs deep in his bones. He says he likes the narrative style of Pingtan; although those passages are old-fashioned and without suspense, they are more humorous and more enduring than crosstalk. This may seem like an ordinary interest of an artist, yet it plainly reflects a person’s attitude toward life. Everyone has different pleasures of existence, and Wu Yiming’s love of Pingtan adds another stroke to his “boredom.” Without suspense yet particularly humorous—such contradiction is precisely the unique inner experience his works bring us.
Here, Wu Yiming excels at capturing moments of tranquility; familiar plant details are diluted within his “ink” images. In his paintings, you can feel an immediate attraction. “Ink” becomes the best “pastime” of his life. It is called “pastime” because of the leisure and personalization of his creation. Flowers and pots, close friends and troublesome friends, lotus ponds in rustic charm… His painting directs our gaze toward an elegant and leisurely “refined play.” His works make us unaware of the passage of time, yet compel us to be grateful for the “precipitation” and “steadfastness” time has granted him. Emptiness is not absence; direct expression without narrative; non-representational spontaneity; the scenery does not resemble, yet captures the spirit.
More importantly, these objects may at first glance seem somewhat heavy, yet after prolonged viewing they bring a faint smile to your lips. The presentation of these flowers and plants is quite “private.” Meanwhile, the plants under his brush possess strong vitality, with a tension that continuously extends outward. They are clumsy and awkward, yet so “indomitable.” Thus I cannot help but sigh that Wu Yiming is a person who understands life, and a person who truly understands how to feel happiness. Perhaps he has experienced the vicissitudes of the world and returned to nature, thereby attaining a profound understanding of “plainness.” The “ordinary” under his brush allows me to feel his “purity” and “simplicity” in viewing the world. The “individualization” under his brush allows me to feel his “tenacity” and “stubbornness” toward the world.
Sometimes I wonder where the “happiness” revealed in his works comes from. I think perhaps it comes from his “reverence” for all that is ordinary. In Wu Yiming’s life, art has become a part of his daily existence. He does not excessively pursue the external beauty of objects, does not attempt to achieve simple responsive resonance, and rejects all superficial ostentation. “The friendship of gentlemen is as light as water”—this seems to be what Wu Yiming seeks to narrate gently, and also his shortcut to understanding happiness. That calmness, that plainness, that solitude…
Today, good artists not only deconstruct tradition; they also develop radical and innovative elements from past traditions in various ways. On the basis of retaining traditional Chinese brush, ink, and paper, Wu Yiming extensively employs methods and concepts from Western modern art in his creation. At the same time, his ink paintings differ from the modern ink mode derived from the modern formalist tradition. His brushwork and use of ink often appear not quite orthodox, yet internally reveal an ability to command the entire picture and a sense of clarity. In his paintings, the shape of objects seems not so important; linguistically he strives to maintain a sense of distance, so that each work appears plain and tranquil.
Wu Yiming has always hoped to be a poet—just a few lines, yet already “wounding the whole body”; calmly facing things, yet already bearing “myriad obstacles”; a foolish smile, yet already comprehending “the myriad states of the world.” Saying so may seem to elevate him excessively. But I am so immersed in the “unperturbed composure” and “simple mediocrity” revealed in his works. Wu Yiming’s painting is a life experience accompanying every breath. His painting language does not display much extraordinary talent; on the contrary, it is often clumsy and stiff. He has opened space between painting and life. He integrates personal feelings, daily experience, and urban subjects, giving people a refreshing sensation. He transforms ink works from calligraphic quality toward a quality of writing, presenting new aesthetic characteristics.
In short, starting from personal life experience, Wu Yiming suggests, in the simplest way, the natural order that should exist in the world. At the same time, he deconstructs the narrow conventions of traditional ink creation, making both subject matter and interiority more everyday. With his ink works, he writes poem after poem: about life, about freedom, about happiness.
Related Artists: WU YIMING 邬一名
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