2.
Discussing the expanding areas of blank space in her works over the past two years, Wang returned to the idea of "subtraction", emphasized philosophy that shapes not only her canvas, but also her life. The period during the pandemic, as well as the time before she spent living alone in a rented apartment near Sichuan Fine Arts Institute while preparing to study in Germany, marked the best state of her creative journey. She deliberately cultivated solitude and learned to be with herself. She believes that solitude is not negative: "When a person is lonely, it is easiest to find inspiration. When you are completely surrounded by happiness, you have no inspiration... With a trace of melancholy, nostalgia, sadness, or a slight heartbreak—that state is when it is easiest to concentrate and let inspiration burst forth." This process of subtraction naturally extended into her real life. She began to reconsider attending unnecessary events, obligations and encounters. She noted that when life grew lighter, the canvas becomes lighter as well.
The more blank space there is on the canvas, the greater the risk the artist bears, because every single stroke must be precise. She compares this state to speaking: you say a sentence, and that is it; once spoken, you walk away. She hopes that two or three lines can wield the power of a dozen. The truly difficult part is not painting, but knowing when to stop. "Many painters like to keep painting," she said with a smile. "But when you've painted enough, you must stop."
As a child, because her family ran a gym, she learned various forms of dance; her mother aspired to be an athlete, her maternal grandfather was a physical education teacher, her father had a passion for painting. Art and the physical body grew side by side within her from a young age. What she loves is not completion, but the endless room for progress. This experience of continuous physical training gradually made its way into her painting. As early as 2016, she wrote in her WeChat Moments: "Finally combined my favorite tango with creation."
Today, however, she believes dance is only a part of her creative ecosystem. "My creative inspiration and energy are particularly grand, and I am a very open person, even a cloud can give me a huge inspiration, a certain air or temperature." She paused for a moment. "The reason I rarely mention [dance] is because if I do, people will only think of dance. But creation has indeed always been connected with dance, from the very beginning all the way to the present." "If you asked my father to paint, or someone who has never danced and whose body is not like mine, they could never paint lines like these."
