Page 140 - Flaunt 171 - Summer of Our Discontent - Lili

Wang Xiaoqu
Wang Xiaoqu (b.1987), lives and works in Beijing. Objects and characters are often compressed and stretched in Wang Xiaoqu’s paintings. Here, objects and substances are accustomed to a sense of living, while people are recognized as some kind of emotional living organisms. The metaphysical deformation of the external shape squeezed out and extracted the profound sentiments of human nature.
Wang Xiaoqu’s paintings consistently convey a touching warmth and nurture despite the differentiations of colors and figures. Wang received her BFA in oil painting from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2009, and MFA in oil painting from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2014.
For her X Museum debut, Wang’s composition of “Take care of you” is distributed intu- itively and impromptu like a diary. When Wang first saw the video of a man carrying a gun sweeping the mosque, a feeling of conflicting violence came to the artist. By drawing a target initially, Wang then transcribed her feelings of violence in daily relationships along with it. The layout of this work also comes from the spheroid loop of a target, whereupon the artist formed an intertwined sealed ring with human bodies.
How has the pandemic affected your artistic practice?
Before the pandemic, I like to observe people, but I could only observe myself during this period, and maybe it is not a bad thing.
Describe the importance of humor or humorous exaggeration in your artworks?
Humor and fear coexist in my works, for me, humor is a variant of fear, which could bring me comfort.
You have a history as a photographer. Photography is something that has perhaps been democratized or made more accessible in recent years by way of technology. What’s lost in the photographic process by these advances?
For me, the popularity of photography has made the images no longer delicate, and present a state of raw material. Now everyone can participate in photography, and it has stimulated the vitality of images. My last stage of creation is developed around this aspect.
What is something you feel is often misunderstood about you?
Some might think my works are about sarcasm, but in fact, I am just trying get into the reali- ties that make myself uncomfortable. The distortions in images more likely come from my own embarrassment.
When do you feel the most inspired by the humans around you? How about the most de- pressed?
I hope my works could have the ability to cross classes and ranks, I feel the same encourage- ment when one renovation worker expresses his favor of my work or when someone decides to collect my work. My inspirations also come from observing different kinds of people surround me. I am kind of depressed for most of the time.
What’s next?
I am currently preparing my first solo exhibition.
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