Cityscape

Xuanbo Wang Portfolio 2016

Artist Statement The work addresses an act of

Xuanbo Wang (Mark) Chinese Mainland 844011524@qq.com

translation in the urban environment. This act of drawing and painting en plein air enables my work to forge connections between cultural styles and to understand architecture through the critical practice of observational drawing. Drawing in this way is translation of the shifting nuances of buildings, their half shadows and hidden attributes. The secret plea is for directness a personal language of drawing that can capture the most nebulous and fleeting moments of light and shadow full of silences. What remains is the draughtsman's craft and the daily occupation to express the soul through curiosity, memory and will in the rendering of these contemporary works .

This series integrates my artistic practice into this city to express my gradual familiarization with the place I live in and growing love for it. The most direct way to express my feeling of this city is to describe its cityscape. As an international exchange student, I think it is interesting to pictorialize this city with my unique cultural background. So I kept some typical characteristics, so that readers can recognize Wolverhampton with ease. Then highlighted my personal style on this basis. That is, I depicted this city creatively according to reality by achieving a balance between subjectivity and objectivity, in an attempt to present “Between likeness and unlikeness” (a concept of Chinese art: Keep the verisimilitude, at the same time not stick strictly to the objective image, but create artistic creation based on its inherent essence)(Zhang, 2002)

Zhang Hailiang (2002), Between likeness and unlikeness, Art Observation, Beijing China, 2002(9):22-44

I am always with a

As my favorite painting material, watercolor always

Apart from the techniques, the choice of

sketchbook to hand so I can draw anytime anywhere about anything. The purpose of my sketching is to study the structure of British architecture, these drafts are also in preparation for my series works.

surprises me in different ways. Watercolor painting requires particularly skillful techniques. The random and haphazard spread of water makes it hard to control, on the other hand, however, could also present unexpected shape and fantastic effects. Therefore what I focus on is trying to master the language of water so as to fully express and present my thought through the most appropriate and expressive way. My watercolor works utilize traditional watercolor painting techniques, such as flat wash, graded wash, wet in wet, dry brush and edge softening, which make them pure watercolor.

watercolor paper is also of crucial importance. Watercolor papers come in different forms, qualities, surfaces, and weights, all of which respond differently to the paint and to various painting techniques. It is useful to understand the characteristics of paper and what makes papers different from each other. Then it is helpful to experiment with different watercolor papers to see what works best for my own painting style and subject matter. The papers I used for this series are typical French papers, 300g, rough, named Arches, which suit me best.

Influences Joseph William Turner, RA 1817: Eruption of Vesuvius 1835: The Piazzetta 1842: The Blue Rigi u

(1775-1851)

Andrew Newell Wyeth 1959: Hoffman's Barn 1967: The Hatton House 1980: Branch in the Snow u

(1917-2009)

Cai Guo-Qiang (1957- ) https://www.britannica.com/biogra phy/Cai-Guo-Qiang u

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Egon Schiele (1890-1918) 1912-1913: Die kleine Stadt II 1913: Stein an der Donau II 1916: Old Mill (Alte MÃ¼hle)

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Don Farrell (1942- ) 2001: Contemporary British Watercolor Artists, Shandong Fine Arts Publishing House

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John Singer Sargen (1856-1925) 1905-1906: Bedouins, c. 1909: Artist in the Simplon, c. 1910: Villa di Marlia

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David Taylor (1941- ) http://www.artmatch4u.com/wpai ntTaylorToday2.html

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Michael Chaplin (1943- ) http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5a2b ea780100qbd4.html Joseph Zbukvic http://www.josephzbukvic.com

Cityscape 2016 Watercolor on paper 18cmĂ&#x2014;38cm Saunders Waterford 300gsm Not

Cityscape 2016 Skeches

Cityscape 2016 Watercolor on paper 23cmĂ&#x2014;31cm Arches Block 300gsm Rough

Cityscape 2016 Watercolor on paper 23cmĂ&#x2014;31cm Arches Block 640gsm Cold Pressed