Hay Yan Waldmann-Wang

Contrast: "Abstract and realistic pictures"

01.06.2000 - 31.07.2000

After her studies, Hay Yan Waldmann-Wang from Shanghai worked as an artist and a lecturer at the Research Academy for Art of the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China. In the course of a research programme on Chinese history of art and painting, she investigated their relationship to Western art. Hay Yan Waldmann-Wang has been living in Germany, to be more precise in Niederstetten, as a freelance artist for eight years now. She explains the fact that she "got stuck" in the Tauber valley with the fascination which its landscape, its people and its culture had on her from the outset. She underwent additional studies at Braunschweig University of Fine Arts. She regards her drawings as a connecting element between traditional Chinese silk painting and modern western painting. Hay Yan Waldmann-Wang paints both very abstract as well as very realistic, graphic pictures. She explains this apparent contrast with the various phases in which she produces her pictures or with the various impressions which have their effects on her everyday life. Pictures which, for example, she paints between spring and summer are normally more realistic, above all if nature is the subject of her picture. On the other hand, if a concert or a television programme stimulates her to paint, then the result is mainly an abstract picture, with Waldmann-Wang immediately adding that her artistic language is expressed more in the abstract pictures. Realistic painting is too simple for her in the long run, as she does not have to look for the matching form of expression in colour and shape for realistic pictures like she does for the abstract ones. She can therefore include herself more in the abstract than in the realistic pictures. Then, she plays with the shapes, but even more so with colours. And it is precisely the combinations of colours which are generally considered to be very fascinating. This love of using strong colours and colour combinations rich in contrast in her paintings was considered to be western-orientated while she was still working in China. So, the mixture of the European and Chinese art of painting did not only start with her move to Germany, but was already part of her. 70 per cent of her paintings are done on Chinese paper, as it is only produced from natural materials. She does not only use Chinese paints, but also silk painting, watercolour and oil paints, in brief any paint which can speak for her. Her cycle "The Charming Tauber Valley" is an impressive example of her message. In it, she portrays well known motifs, such as Rothenburg, which has been painted many times, in her own particular way. She records her pictures with her eyes, processes them internally and reproduces them in her quite personal way. The very interesting exhibition with a Far Eastern flair is open to everyone during the opening hours of the LAUDA FabrikGalerie.

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