We first got to know Wang Meibo, a cutting edge artist, from his series of paintings entitled “The World Cup”. With his youth and passion, he made a definite mark on the canvas, filled with the color of vibrant green and a style of mixed cubism. After the “Formula Racing” series, he made his turn from painting objects of motion to those of absolute stillness—-the stones. Where there was once confusion, struggle and hesitation, the “Stones” emerged with an exploding force.
Since the 1950’s, American Artist Carl Andre has been describing a microscopic world with his minimalism concept, deconstructing and remodeling the relationship of human and nature into a unified form, returning to the most fundamental origin of art form—-the lines.
Minimalism was a chosen language for Wang Meibo, as well. “I am Here” is a young artist’s announcement of his recognition of the identity of his experiments on conceptions and social interventions. It is a triangle—-the artist’s individuality, the art agency and the social environment. The young artist expresses how the three coexist.
In this new series, the reality of the three dimensional space and the single dimension of time have been compressed into a flat status. The artist chose the simplest color of black and white. The stones become storage for the artist’s emotions. The hardness of a stone and its finest texture express a dramatic emotional conflict on the paper.
The exhibition includes three clues—-“Where am I from?”, “Where am I?” and “Who am I?”—-to invite the viewer to discover a hidden “me”.
I came from a village
The village I lived in as a child was so remote that people in the village could only name the trees in the local dialect. Now, as an urbanized person, I am puzzled by the uncertain changes happening in the village as I return.
I am here
I have used GPS countless times to determine my location. The coordinates and the scale on the map help me to recognize where I am. But I am still lost.
A stone’s identity and mine
A stone remains in the same location for a very long period of time, is very certain about its identity and writes its own history. But I, constantly being expanded and relocated, am wondering who I am and who I will be.