Naked realities

Wei Dong returns to China's art scene after years in the United States. Lin Qi reports on how his canvas has changed.

Wei Dong is known for his stimulating, erotic images of women. But since 2010, though still painting nudity, his canvas has turned less provocative. He has also taken up shanshui (Chinese landscape painting) in search of comfort and nostalgia. He now tries to achieve a "natural, relaxed and unforced" effect that "corresponds with his own breathing". After living in New York for 15 years, the 47-year-old Chinese painter is making a comeback to the home art scene by staging two solo exhibitions.

The Adventure of Ugliness, which concluded on Sunday at Beijing's Today Art Museum, showed Wei's 20-year-long journey of evolving his own style. And an exhibition to be held on Wednesday in Hong Kong will trace the transitions in his artistic expressions before and after his move to the Big Apple in 1999.