Wang Xiaofu: Bird on Fire
French philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote in The Psychoanalysis of Fire that fire presents 鈥渁n opportunity that evokes endless memories and creates a universally significant personal experience.鈥� For her debut solo exhibition at CLC Gallery Venture, 鈥淏ird on Fire鈥�, Wang Xiaofu revisited personal memories with introspection of her friendship with musician Otay:Onii. And by adopting 鈥渇ire鈥� and its related imageries, Wang expands their intimate emotional connection to notions of self-reflection, mutual illumination between creative individuals, and personal transformation and growth through artistic practice.
鈥淢y heart is trembling, like a captured little bird.鈥� wrote Fyodor Dostoevsky in White Nights. This phrase inspired Wang鈥檚 imagination to connect the imagery of a small bird to the symbolism of the heart, which became an iconic motif that recur in many of Wang鈥檚 works. Although subjects and themes determine her compositions, these symbolic imageries evolve over time. Amid their creative exchanges, Wang perceived Otay:Onii鈥檚 musical performance as 鈥渁 burning bird,鈥� a realization that shifted the bird as an embodiment of the 鈥榟eart鈥� to being the projection of her friend and their shared sense of affinity and respective creativity, as Wang says, 鈥淎 bird, the colorful part is me, and the part that sings is Otay:Onii.鈥�
Bird on Fire, eponymous of the exhibition title, departs on a renewed journey of one鈥檚 memory. The once-contained flames (colors) now engulf the entire canvas; swiftly applied and layered brushstrokes swirl like fireworks around the bird perched on a branch. They seem to have blended together, making the sun in the background dissolve into a haze. In Wang's paintings, fire is constantly in motion, shifting, while steadily retaining an upward momentum. In After That, with its cooler tone, we find a visual inversion of Bird on Fire: entangled colors form lush, ribbon-like plants enveloping the bird鈥檚 back, as though looking back at a memory from the other side of time. In The Moment鈥檚 Gift, The Gift of the Moment, the bird has taken flight. No matter how intense the flames dance under, the viewer鈥檚 gaze is inevitably drawn to the bird鈥檚 radiant movement. In this sense, a bird in flames has gradually returned to symbolize the artist herself.
Fire, one of Wang鈥檚 most frequently rendered motifs, is not only a physical phenomenon but symbolically rooted in human imagination and the unconscious. Though formless, it holds a steady core. In 鈥淏ird on Fire鈥�, its symbolism extends beyond the thematic subject to allegories of the artist's personal metamorphosis. Trained in photography at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Wang Xiaofu decided to pursue painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art. While studying at CAFA, She realized early on of her distrust in constructed narratives through photography. "I'm not good at cropping reality," she once said. Painting, on the other hand, demanding of the artist鈥檚 physical and mental coordination, seemed more suitable to channel expressions of the 鈥渋nfinite truth鈥� she sought through lived experience.
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French philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote in The Psychoanalysis of Fire that fire presents 鈥渁n opportunity that evokes endless memories and creates a universally significant personal experience.鈥� For her debut solo exhibition at CLC Gallery Venture, 鈥淏ird on Fire鈥�, Wang Xiaofu revisited personal memories with introspection of her friendship with musician Otay:Onii. And by adopting 鈥渇ire鈥� and its related imageries, Wang expands their intimate emotional connection to notions of self-reflection, mutual illumination between creative individuals, and personal transformation and growth through artistic practice.
鈥淢y heart is trembling, like a captured little bird.鈥� wrote Fyodor Dostoevsky in White Nights. This phrase inspired Wang鈥檚 imagination to connect the imagery of a small bird to the symbolism of the heart, which became an iconic motif that recur in many of Wang鈥檚 works. Although subjects and themes determine her compositions, these symbolic imageries evolve over time. Amid their creative exchanges, Wang perceived Otay:Onii鈥檚 musical performance as 鈥渁 burning bird,鈥� a realization that shifted the bird as an embodiment of the 鈥榟eart鈥� to being the projection of her friend and their shared sense of affinity and respective creativity, as Wang says, 鈥淎 bird, the colorful part is me, and the part that sings is Otay:Onii.鈥�
Bird on Fire, eponymous of the exhibition title, departs on a renewed journey of one鈥檚 memory. The once-contained flames (colors) now engulf the entire canvas; swiftly applied and layered brushstrokes swirl like fireworks around the bird perched on a branch. They seem to have blended together, making the sun in the background dissolve into a haze. In Wang's paintings, fire is constantly in motion, shifting, while steadily retaining an upward momentum. In After That, with its cooler tone, we find a visual inversion of Bird on Fire: entangled colors form lush, ribbon-like plants enveloping the bird鈥檚 back, as though looking back at a memory from the other side of time. In The Moment鈥檚 Gift, The Gift of the Moment, the bird has taken flight. No matter how intense the flames dance under, the viewer鈥檚 gaze is inevitably drawn to the bird鈥檚 radiant movement. In this sense, a bird in flames has gradually returned to symbolize the artist herself.
Fire, one of Wang鈥檚 most frequently rendered motifs, is not only a physical phenomenon but symbolically rooted in human imagination and the unconscious. Though formless, it holds a steady core. In 鈥淏ird on Fire鈥�, its symbolism extends beyond the thematic subject to allegories of the artist's personal metamorphosis. Trained in photography at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Wang Xiaofu decided to pursue painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art. While studying at CAFA, She realized early on of her distrust in constructed narratives through photography. "I'm not good at cropping reality," she once said. Painting, on the other hand, demanding of the artist鈥檚 physical and mental coordination, seemed more suitable to channel expressions of the 鈥渋nfinite truth鈥� she sought through lived experience.
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