L a - b e a u t é - s a u v e r a - l e - m o n d e ~ D o s t o ï e v s k i

L a - b e a u t é - s a u v e r a - l e - m o n d e  ~  D o s t o ï e v s k i



Saturday, January 16, 2016

Tang Wei Min - selected paintings


"April". (I've only found what I believe are the titles of some of these paintings and don't have dates for any of them.)

Another artist that is new to me. The Chinese painter Tang Wei Min - 唐伟民. I have so many questions about the artist and his work. Are all of the costumes historicist? Or are any current to any particular region? China, Mongolia, Tibet? All of those individually or in combination? I'm embarrassed that I don't know enough about the costume of this part of Asia to be certain about any of that. I assume that the artist used the same gorgeous, ethereal model in most of these paintings - I believe she may be his wife...? - but all I've been able to find out about Tang, himself, is this:

Tang Wei Min was born in 1971 in Yong Zhou, Hunan Province of China. In 1991, Wei Min graduated from the Art Department of Hunan Standard College, where he majored in oil painting. In 2001, Wei Min was accepted into a graduate study program in the Painting Department in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.


These paintings are a lovely jumble of the bleak mythological landscape of Odd Nerdrum and the colorful doll-inhabited Russian peasant fantasies of Konstantin Makovsky, all assembled on a ground of Rembrandt. Is this kitsch? Probably. But some of them seem to go a little "deeper", are a bit more grounded in pictorial and psychological realism; they seem to recognize and enjoy their dress-up make-believe, rather than entirely buying into it.

"Woman of the Hill Tribes".
"Lucky Dawn".
"High Holiday I".
"Silk Road XVII".
"Moon Night".
"Woman with Elegant Fan".
"Quiet Time".
"First Child".
"Red Thread".
"Lama". One of the rather infrequent male figures.
"Slight Wind".
"Distant Thoughts".
"Tibetan Mistress".
"Man in Moonlight".
"Silent Time" or "Peaceful Silence".
"Lost in Thought".
"Glancing Back".



8 comments:

  1. There are no words. This beauty has left me speechless.

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  2. Those are quite spectacular. Two are especially intriguing: the one where the lady is wearing a white chemise and sketching something with ink (waves? landscape?) and standing in front of a makeshift "window" or a sculpture of some kind that approximates a window. The other is the group of four people, one of whom does not appear to be Asian. The man in question is holding something--a prayer wheel, perhaps--and has light eyes and is glowering at the viewer in a challenging way. Also, one person's face is deliberately shielded from our view, which is sort of unconventional. Would love to find out more about this artist!

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  3. Unbelievable! Magnificent! Ethereal. Some of the most beautiful work I have ever seen. I come from an artistic family. My brother is Greg Hildebrandt the fantasy artist spiderwebart . com. I feel I know something of art and this is the most mind blowing collection ever. I wish I could have a copy of every single one. Sigh. Jane

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    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed this, Jane! Your brother Greg - and late brother, Tim - are rightfully very famous, of course, so the artist would have to be very flattered having his work so appreciated by someone with your background. : )

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  4. There's a bit of info about this artist at http://tang-wei-min.blogspot.co.uk/.

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  5. I love this artist so much. I think the second last painting here is one of the most amazing pictures I've ever seen.

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