WU MENGCHUN solo exhibition at Art Scene Beijing
13 - 26 January, 2007

Wu Mengchun’s paintings are influenced by his strong Buddhist beliefs, although they may not appear so at first. His paintings reveal the artist’s very introspective personality, leading viewers to follow in his search for the ‘truth’.
Wu always paints male subjects, which are modeled after himself. But he emphasizes: “the person in my work is not me. It could be anyone.” The figures are nude – the most natural and pure state of being. Wu Mengchun’s choice of men as nudes is unusual and makes his work controversial. Wu comments, “Why should only women’s bodies be painted?”
“In my paintings, I want to emphasize man’s weakness and softness, not their strength and hardness. I want to show something else that is more female, like the female part of Yin and Yang.”
The subjects Wu portrays do not pose in any special or unnatural way. Instead, the artist wants to portray the figure objectively, as if capturing a single moment, or an instant on the canvas. They frequently have their eyes shut and are depicted in a shadowy world, as if existing between physical and mental realities. It is as if the world around them has faded away. Hence, Wu’s paintings are closely connected with the world of thoughts, feelings and dreams, representing the search for truth and identity.
In his latest series, Wu Mengchun’s figures are often showering or cleansing themselves in water. Although this is a common daily activity, Wu Mengchun gives these paintings a beautiful almost mystical atmosphere in which the subject seems to be in a state somewhere between solidity and dissolution. Such every day cleansing rituals emphasize the themes of purity and regeneration that are central to Wu Mengchun’s Buddhist beliefs.