Centre Artasia Paris, presents from 29 September the first monographic and retrospective exhibition in France of Chinese artist Wang Yigang, with his work from the beginning of the 1990s until his most recent works. Ami Barak, an independent curator and art critic directed the exhibition’s scenography.

From the 1990s, China has known unparalleled development in all domains including cultural advances and Wing Yigang has positioned himself straightaway as one of the pioneers of this style assumed by modern expression.

In China, abstraction as practiced by the artist Wang Yigang is still a debatable topic for while it maintains a proven link with certain Chinese traditions, it is evolving by releasing these bindings and by taking the experimental path of Western inspiration. Yet undeniably, the cultural horizon is that of a spirituality that is eminently local that makes his art just as worked, as it is changeable.

Abstract temptation, as defended by the Chinese artist is that of freedom and it is for this reason that his art still takes on such an importance in history today. The title of the exhibition reclaims an injunction pronounced by the artist in an interview and that indicates a profession of faith as much as a user guide addressed to the viewer.

About Wang Yigang

Born in 1961 in Qiqiha’er City, Wang Yigang began his career in the early 1980s initially creating works influenced by his studies of Cubism and Futurism. Awarded at the National Youth Art Exhibition in 1985 with the encouraging young artist prize, Wang

Yigang later went on to graduate the following year from the oil painting department at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang.

Throughout his 25 year career so far, artist Wang Yigang has been pluralistic in his style, ranging from representational to Abstract Expressionism to Pop art. The artist has had his work exhibited across the world not just in Beijing, Shenyang and Shanghai but also in Japan, Singapore, Russia and the US. He has also showcased work in Europe including Spain and Germany.

Whilst continuing his creative endeavours as an artist and winning the academic prize at the China Oil Painting Biennial in 1993, he later obtained a position as associate professor in the Art Department at the Teachers’ Institute of Shenyang University. He now currently teaches at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts.