When the grounds of this city began to be covered in cement and tar, they said it would smother the earth. And now no one would sigh for it anymore- the soil had already become blackened and rotten, as if the necrotic skin tissues were wrapped under the suffocating bandage. You had forgotten what was underneath that once started the first breath of life.
LI Wen Guang was born in the 1980’s. The number is only a label for time, not a label for personality- the frail or the formidable qualities of the so-called 80’s generation have no association with him. His inner desire only relates to his own being as human. The colors of such desire have been smeared onto his canvases, as if a new human form struggles to take shape and grow out from beneath the still-soft asphalt- a seed to be spread in the city, or a tumor with the stink of soil.
Nietzsche divides art into two categories: that of Apollo and of Dionysus. Fans of the first devote themselves to the glory of re-enacting dreams by exquisite skills and to create a world ascendant over humanity. The latter is an outpour of human emotions and desires in intoxicating enchantment. They wake up and forget, and even disdain their previous actions. Yet those signs of intoxication indeed have provided them the purest and most immediate pleasures. While the academic art and the current educational model attempt to push the talented young men into Apollo’s chamber, the “wild-grown” soul LI Wen Guang displays a glow shone by Dionysus, thanks to LI’s drift and dissociation. This young artist does not attempt to use colors rigorously, nor follow the golden rules of painting and composition. His “broken language” floats across the spaces on canvases, providing the experience of mystery- hesitation and uncertainty is firmly carried out by the hearty and detailed brushstrokes. He is indisputably passionate about painting men, women and sensuality. Yet, what is hard to come by is that his unconventional techniques and interpretation coincide with the unexplainable desire of youth. You might not know where it comes from but you could feel its existence. And you would enjoy the moment when it comes, whether you are a man or a woman.
Wang Ya Lei
