Jian Wang 2009: Contemporary Art

Looking back over the last two decades it is hard to determine where the greatest change lies: is it in Jian Wang, the artist who left China in 1986 to develop his career in the US, or is it in the China Jian Wang left behind? Jian Wang was born into a China that was emerging from a terrible famine in 1958, he grew up during Mao s Cultural Revolution, and he took a leap of faith in 1986 to leave his professional life in China as an Engineer to pursue the artistic life of his youthful dreams. In a reversal that would have seemed just as startling then as one that launched his life as a successful Contemporary American artist, Jian has recently returned to China, to find a new freedom and prosperity fueling a globally recognized resurgence in the Arts a resurgence that has swept him into a new phase of his life as an artist, with exciting and ongoing consequences. Jian Wang, as an artist, has always been characterized by the sharp contrast between the background of his life, and the way he chose to live that life. He brought his Chinese experience to this country, and now he has taken his acquired American-ness back to China. The result is a fresh perspective a uniqueness of vision that enlivens everything he creates. Jian Wang was looking west in an east-facing crowd, now he looks east again from his western vantage point. Recognized for the uniqueness of his talent over a decade ago by Dawson Cole Fine Art, Jian has enjoyed the support of the artistically intuitive MacDonald family. He has garnered a strong and loyal following of collectors, and has been formally recognized for his accomplishments. In 2007 the California State named him as one who had made Outstanding Contributions to the Arts, echoing a 2006 resolution by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors honoring his local achievements. What his illustrious mentors, like Wayne Thiebaud, Fred Dalkey and David Hollowell recognized long ago as Jian studied for his academic degrees in Fine Art in the United States, was recently discovered by the influential Director of the National Art Museum of China, Fan Dian. The National Museum hosted Jian s first exhibition in China during the Bejing Summer Olympics, and has since dedicated the maximum allowable funding for the acquisition of Jian s work for the Museum. Plans are underway to dedicate a permanent hall in the National Museum to Jian Wang. This recognition has brought the attention of international collectors, and has led to Jian s work being taken into important private collections in Japan, Korea, and Europe. Loyal American collectors are seeing their early support of Jian Wang s originality and exceptionalism validated in the most concrete and enduring way possible. Jian Wang established a studio in Bejing in 2007, and found the art scene alive with heady mix of newfound freedom, opportunity, patronage, and prosperity. The massive influx of Chinese youth from the countryside provided Jian with a fascinating subject: fresh-faced country girls adopting western styles of make-up and fashion a stunning mix of traditions and modernity, full of new possibilities. In a bustling beehive of over 90 artist s studios Jian found conversations about art and politics and life that set the wheels of his mind turning at a accelerated pace. The years of dedication in America, of persistence and hard work, were being overlaid by a newfound exhilaration and ease in the exciting atmosphere of his Bejing studio. The brilliance of the new work reflects this new and rewarding phase of the artist s life. Jian Wang seeks to hold a mirror up to a society that is changing rapidly, affecting each one of its members, and the entire world, with the energy of its growth and its embrace of individuality. -Leanne Reinhold