Level 4, we'll never make it Painting, Urban landscape / Architecture, Oil, Canvas, 300x200cm, 2008

Jiajia Wang is a product of East meets West. Born in China, but educated and in the UK, Wang is like many Asian children that have had a strong western education and influence. His differing cultural backgrounds sit in stark contradiction, something that often causes some individuals to struggle with the anxiety of not quite fitting in with traditional Chinese family pressures and perceived expectations. Rather than struggle, Wang has chosen to embrace these two components; East meets West, using elements to inform his own work.

Traditional Chinese landscape painting, traditional inks and brushes and traditional format of the images are used in conjunction with comic books and computer games. His imagery, use of colour and energetic mark-making resonates with this fusion that symbolizes traditional western fairy tales and ancient Chinese stories. Extracts are cut and pasted together resembling a collage of painterly references: Chinese-style epic landscapes mixed with playful references to early platform games (‘Level 4, we’ll never make it) which give a false sense of naivety and childishness.

In his own words

"Painting X"

Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background and how you became an artist?
I was born into a very artistic family – my parents and grandparents and many relatives are all practicing artists in China. Although I grew up mainly in London the house was always filled with books and paintings mainly concerning traditional Chinese art works. I guess just being in this sort of environment encouraged me to be creative. My parents were also happy to let me experiment and did not try to push me too much.

Art seemed like a heritage, a calling to me in the end.

100 years ago

What’s your favourite thing you’ve ever created and why? What makes one piece successful over another?
I think it is hard to say what my favorite piece is. I create something, I like it for a while until I make something new and more exciting, then the previous piece is boring and horrible to look at. People are like this, with every improving thing, the latter becomes insignificant. I always want to change old works, re-edit. Something which I have to control, I think.

"I wanted to tell stories"

You are Chinese, now you living in the UK. Do you think that this effects your work? Does the Chinese perspective differ from the British perspective in regards to the Art world? If so how?
I actually live mostly in China now. I used to live in London for a long time but I moved back after I graduated university. Everything seems very different in Beijing compared to London. I feel the art world here in Beijing is very unpredictable, because it has not matured like the West; galleries, artists and auctions come from nowhere and then disappear quite frequently. I feel the art market in England is very much open, artists from all over the World can bring different interpretations and styles and cultures which is widely accepted, however in China it is a very domestic market, filled with Chinese artists.

I think I miss most the variety of artists on show and the caliber of exhibitions.

jiajiapainting9

What would you say are the benefits, or pitfalls of working in another country from the one you were born in?
You can really learn much more this way, from simple things like how people live in a particular city, what they read, the way they handle business, or the way they eat. All these small things make your knowledge of life and what is considered contemporary more rounded and complete. London has cultures from all over the world, meshing together, already a fully developed city. Yet Beijing, is slightly more traditional yet ever evolving- living in these two places just helps to become aware of these different cultures and helps provide insight into how you want to create a piece of work.

late painting

You frequently use your work to cross the East meets West divide. Your drawings certainly are reminiscent of traditional Chinese drawing, however your painting has a contemporary energetic approach. How does your Drawing and Painting relate? Which comes first and do you value one over the other, and if so why?
I am always trying to find a balance with my work, either West or East, abstract or realistic. The drawings and paintings are two ends of the spectrum in my process- they relate, but only slightly. The drawings are a more traditional medium I use to try and create a work that relates to the more Eastern side that ever since I’ve been back in Beijing I’ve tried to bring out in the work.

Night Rises

Traditional Chinese paintings are based upon lines. Trees, mountains and rocks are the elements in the landscape and with the drawings and paintings I try to recreate these in different ways. The drawings are a more direct translation a re-imagining of them. They are works that I feel I have to make; they are almost annoying and unnecessarily complex to draw but I feel a compulsion to make works that are like this, a nod back to my cultural roots.

The paintings also are formed upon the same basis, using the traditional language as a starting block, but then I want to experiment more, to try more things. The lines in the drawings are very definite, each one has a particular purpose, but within the paintings I am constantly in a state of editing and re-editing, I paint layers over and over again, painting things in just so that I can cover them up again.

"Thinking Bout You"

Could you describe for us your typical ‘start to finish’ workflow when working on a new painting?
Before I work, I research a lot, I keep journals of music I’ve listened to, movies I’ve seen, exhibitions, gigs, etc. This is a starting place of a painting, then I try to piece together those elements which might make sense in terms of a landscape, or a constructed space. But then. what happens afterwards is a mess of painting and re-painting. Sometimes I paint for a month and then leave a painting for half a year, I can become obsessive with the surface and re-work everyday, or become disinterested. The way I work and the way it can look can change dramatically. Recently I have working on a series of works that re-painted over older paintings.

What’s next for you?
I have a show in Beijing coming up in c5 gallery, which I have shut myself in my studio for the last six months preparing for; afterwards hopefully I can leave my studio and go outside to see the sunlight for a while.

Born in1985 in Beijing China, educated in raised in the UK Jiajia Wang now live in Beijing. Wang is a graduate from BA (Hons) Fine Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London.

Jiajia studied M.A. at the Wood Carving and Print Dept. of Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

All images courtesy of JiaJia Wang | www.jiajia-wang.com

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