When faced with an artwork by Wang Yihua, it is immediately apparent he has a masterful understanding of the technical tools of painting. These canal scenes of Zhouzhuang depict a 900 year-old city, where sixty percent of the houses survive in their original state from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The paintings are executed in a style of high realism, inviting the view to enter the ancient scenery through them.

Discussing his subject matter, Wang Yihua describes the delicate harmony of nature and human ingenuity that exists in the small villages of the Jiangnan region, which literally translated, refers to the land south of the Yangtze River. “History, the meaning of home, and simply humanity, are the fabric of the scene.” Through these peaceful paintings of a village suspended in time, Wang emphasizes the collective sense of identity in a place- the universal rather than personal. Although the location has a personal significance, indeed is inextricably linked to his own sense of identity, there is an objective distance inherent in these paintings. They sometimes depict figures, but these figures are remote from the viewer, unaware of the fact that they are observed as they go about their daily tasks. The people who inhabit his canal paintings are not specific to a personality or a particular time. They are merely a small part of the bigger picture. (Excerpt by Laura Peturson, 2006).

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions