Pursuing excellence and shining brilliance - Preface to Wang Dongchun's Art Retrospective Exhibition

Last year today (October 12th), the art world in Jiangsu (or China) almost lost a talented person in an instant - Wang Dongchun. This year, he has just passed the age of "knowing the mandate of heaven" and is in his prime! To this day, I still feel immense sorrow.

I first met Wu Jian in his studio in Zhongbao Village, a western suburb of this city, on an afternoon in the early 1990s. At that time, he was still studying for his undergraduate degree at the college. Since that acquaintance, I have been in a relationship with him for over thirty years. During this period, he participated in three exhibitions that I planned and hosted: "Born in the 1970s" (Shanghai, 2000), "Contemporary Context~Chinese Version - Large scale Comprehensive Art Invitation Exhibition" (Beijing, 2007), and "Turnaround - Super freehand Case Exhibition" (Changshu, 2019). There is no doubt that he is one of the indispensable backbone figures in my curatorial career. From this, it can be seen that we have a rare artistic kindred spirit. He always invites me to attend exhibitions and events; After a while, I also take the initiative to go to his studio to see his new works; On New Year's Day, he will certainly send some gifts to his door (see his last side is the eve of last year's Mid-Autumn Festival); When playing cards at the table, if he occasionally makes mistakes with me, he will immediately react and show no mercy

He devoted his entire life to the art and education he loved. And he made rapid progress and performed exceptionally well.

His artistic creation can be roughly divided into three periods: in the early 1990s, he studied under the famous oil painter Sheng Meibing and laid a solid professional foundation. Later, he went to Russia with Feng Jialiang and others to investigate and learn, absorbing a lot of nutrients from Russian oil painting and developing a habit of balancing knife and pen in painting. A batch of outstanding colored landscape oil paintings were created during this period. This period can be called the "tempering period of oil painting language". At this moment, he is only making a name for himself. What really made him famous was the mid-term: the "Statue Series" (which lasted for more than ten years). This "series of creations" adopts the techniques of "using ancient metaphors to describe the present" and "borrowing figurines to express dreams". The so-called 'statue making' refers to his personal spiritual temperament and idealized personality. In the refinement of artistic language, he put in a lot of effort and formed some stylized personality traits. (I invited him to participate in a major exhibition at the "Today Art Museum" in Beijing) Later on, the colors on the screen gradually became neutral from colorful spots, and the character images gradually became chaotic from concrete. It is precisely these two changes that have ushered him into a new era: the metaphysical abstraction and the metaphysical philosophical period (i.e. recent). The so-called black color refers to the combination of gray and black - he seems to have a special fondness for this, especially in some monochrome images, which are pitch black and opaque - such a black color is rare, which reminds me of Shi Lu's famous saying back in the day: the world is wide in the black ink circle! Thinking about the current situation (which is difficult to express), one cannot help but wonder: Is this a fable? The objects on the screen gradually moved between existence and non existence, and finally all "sank" into his black curtain. At the same time, the exposed texture of the materials and the texture of the knife and pen seem to be telling its readers about a peaceful emotion deep in his heart: love, the warmth of humanity, the meaning of life, fate, and eternity... (One large-scale work in this series participated in my curated "Turnaround - Super freehand Case Exhibition" and won widespread praise)

Normally, he should have had even more vivid chapters to come out, but unfortunately, due to a "pause" in his individual life, it came to an abrupt end!

Is this his destiny?

Although his individual life has come to an end, his continuous pursuit of excellence and over thirty years of exploration remain so brilliant!

Wang Dongchun on the screen has gained eternal life!

It is a sequence.

2025.9.28

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