As a child growing up in China, Wang ZhiWu inherited his love of art from his father, a sculptor, landscape artist, and wood craftsman. Growing up on his parent's farm, Wang's talents were enthusiastically cheered on by family and friends, including some of the master artists that happened to be his neighbors.
After graduating from Meizhou Wan Arts and Crafts College in Fujian, China in 2006, Wang began his professional career as a contemporary artist, in which he focused on human figures that reflected the trials and tribulations of life. Although financially successful, this subject matter brought him no joy, leading to a difficult year-long hiatus. When he emerged from this time self-reflection and re-awakening, he shifted his artistic focus from capturing the hardships of the human condition to that of the unconditional love of animals.
Growing up on a farm, Wang always had a deep connection to animals, but his connection to his pets during his artistic hibernation became a growing and ongoing source of inspiration. He began to use animal images as reflections of himself and his interpretation of life. He styles his animal subjects to suggest their independent character and uniqueness, while capturing their essential nature.
With watchful eyes that almost come alive, his animal images stir an emotional rhetoric that inspires onlookers to approach the art with more soulful intuition than calculated analysis. Although the subject matter is generally simple, the art represents something more. Wang’s work has been collected internationally by both professional and private collectors, and internationally exhibited. |