Blustering in the Mountains: Self–transcendence of Wang Keju

It could be considered as a pretty large step of Wang Keju in art after entering the new century, which could be described as either complete transformation or rebirth. We could find three reasons for his transition not being parallel shift but self–transcendence with great span. Firstly, he is the only one with such kind of transcendence and transition in art so far; secondly, it is the transition with mature and shaped style in art rather than with exploration; thirdly, the transition appears not only in the theme and style of his artworks, but also in the full expression of his art intelligence. 

As is familiar to all, Wang Keju’s artworks had been the rural realistic painting, expressing the simple folk customs in Qilu. Nevertheless, his strokes turns to wild and rough when his sight goes to the nature, revealing the other side of his inwardness that had been folding for a long time. We can’t but marvel at his new art and himself beside.  

I get a feeling from Wang Keju’s landscapes that he’s always ready to find something special in the common sights. He’s good at epitomizing and sequencing when painting the ever-changing and complicated natural sceneries, thus his painting is definitely not the impersonal depiction of nature, but the creation of the art self-discipline touched by the nature. The so-called “sketching from the nature” is in fact restoring the passion from the nature into the induction, arrangement and ordering of the nature, keeping which more harmonious with the need of art and “my” feeling from color to form.  

Unique as it is, each of Wang Keju’s paintings does not come from any formula of painting but “just this one” in the nature instead of the studio. 

by Jia Fangzhou