Still Life

“The first two important things I learned about Western painting are that it is meant to be seen from a distance, so composition is crucial, and that the ‘touch’ of an oil painter is similar to our brushwork, but not exactly the same because of the nature of the materials. Chinese brush and ink are much more sensitive and responsive than oils and canvas, and brushwork is the one aspect that Chinese painters have explored in much great depth than their Western counterparts.”

Throughout C. C. Wang’s life, he painted very few still life painting and Still Life is a very rare example from his work in the 1990s. Wang “de-emphasised brushwork in order to investigate new modes of composition and colour”, and his aesthetic was influenced by both great Chinese painters such as Qi Baishi and his Western contemporaries in New York such has Henri Matisse, as seen from the subject matter, colour and composition in Still Life.