Whispers of Time – 32
145 × 92 cm
Mixed media on paper
2022
水火既济——杨文萍 王晓蓉双个展
Fair Over Water:
A Two—Person Exhibition by
Yang Wenping and Wang Xiaorong
艺术家Artist：
杨文萍 Yang Wenping
王晓蓉 Wang Xiaorong
策展人Curator：
林竹 Lin Zhu
出品人Producer：
王芳 Wang Fang
展览统筹Exhibition coordination：
赵馨雨 Zhao Xinyu
展期：2026/06.13-2026/07.15
开幕时间：2025.06.13 PM14:30
主办：德昌阿特·V出口美术馆
Sponsored by:DCA·Exit V Art Museum
展地：青岛崂山区株洲路122-1号
德昌阿特·V出口美术馆1,2号展厅
Gallery 1,2,DCA·Exit V Museum,No.122-1,Zhuzhou Road,Laoshan District,Qingdao City
---Preface---
Fire and Water in Perfect Harmony – Two Manifestations of the Self
Text by Lin Zhu
During a visit to Beijing, I happened to encounter a rainy day in the city. Amid the dripping sound of raindrops, Yang Wenping was busy stir‑frying vegetables over a stove in her studio, her movements swift and deft. By the tea table, Wang Xiaorong appeared relatively introverted and quiet. Interestingly, their creative paths are exactly the opposite: Yang Wenping uses a brush to control the unchecked movement of ink dots on rice paper, taming the vibrant, dynamic life of plants (as seen in her Whispers of Time series), giving expression to a soft, restrained, and enduring beauty. Wang Xiaorong, on the other hand, uses fire as a blade, carrying out her graphic reconfiguration between burning and collage, searching for a spiritual home in the process of destruction and reconstruction. Time, figures, form, content – everything fell into perfect balance, making “Fire and Water in Perfect Harmony” the most fitting description of that instant scene. It also aptly reflects the creative paths of Wang Xiaorong and Yang Wenping – using fire and water as metaphors, paper as medium, and reaching the shared shore of self‑manifestation through different practices.
Yang Wenping’s transition from oil painting to ink and wash brings her work back to the pictorial essence of Chinese painting. The blending and diffusion of water and ink, the flat washes of painting, and the pointillist‑like control of rhythm all point to a meditative Zen mood. The mutual covering and revealing of images within the picture is an endogenous state of the individual’s perception of the world, embodying a quiet, misty vital energy. Through this, Yang Wenping has found a way to settle her inner being: the mechanically repeated circular brushstrokes in her Whitewash series represent her initial understanding that “creation itself is practice”; the layered ink washes in the Whispers of Time series, like tree rings or water ripples, reflect her contemplation of life’s journey, including time and the essence of existence; the cell‑like dense dots in the Heart Chakra series are her attempt to transform internal energy fields into a visual language, an externalization of the spirit. Yang Wenping’s work is an inward meditation. Through daily repetitive labor, she releases attachments, and through the natural flow of water and ink, she accepts impermanence. As she says, “Artistic expression is really about ‘seeing’ – seeing the light and the folds within oneself, seeing the codes hidden in all forms.” In her works, we feel the inclusiveness and fluidity of water, and also the calm and clarity a female artist has achieved through dialogue with herself.
Wang Xiaorong’s “quenching” action uses rice paper – a material imbued with the ethereal, supple essence of Eastern culture – as her medium, burning it along the edges until they turn scorched black and carbonized, allowing fire to leave its unrepeatable traces of life. The layered sheets of paper are accumulations of time and overlays of memory. We can speculate that from her initial vigorous use of fire to her current precise control of the flame, her creative journey is itself a process of practice – from outward release to inward restraint. When the primal, emotional blaze burns out, what remains in the traces is the joy and tranquility of rebirth after disaster. True power lies not in destruction but in transformation – turning rice paper from a vehicle for calligraphy and painting into an independent artistic substance, and at the same time turning the anxieties of existence into aesthetic expression, achieving a spiritual nirvana of inner containment. In her works, we see the temperature and power of fire, and also the resilience of an artist who, through repeated tempering in the material world, seeks self‑awakening and self‑cultivation.
Yang Wenping and Wang Xiaorong – one follows the path of “seeing – gazing – introspection,” purifying the delight in the beauty of forms into a pure perception of the rhythm of the heart; the other releases passion freely, experiencing the tremor of a lightning flash before returning to calm constancy. Yet different paths lead to the same destination: both have found a way back to the true self through artistic creation, pointing to the Chan Buddhist principle of “give rise to a mind that abides nowhere” (from the Diamond Sutra: “Let your mind come forth without fixing it anywhere on anything”). That is, not clinging to external phenomena or internal concepts and emotions, so that in a state of “abiding nowhere,” one gives rise to a pure, equal, awakened mind. Their works are no longer simple imitations of the external world, but true projections of their inner worlds – a direct manifestation of life.
When the fervor of fire meets the gentleness of water, when the power of hardness blends with the wisdom of softness, this artistic feast of “Fire and Water in Perfect Harmony” is brought to life, revealing the infinite possibilities of Eastern aesthetics in the contemporary world.
Of course, the Book of Changes (Zhouyi) does not teach us a single, fixed outcome, but rather the subtlety of creation: it is only when yin and yang interweave in complex ways that change can arise and life can be endlessly renewed. The Zhouyi, in the hexagram Jiji (“After Completion”), says: “Water over fire: the image of After Completion. The superior person considers the potential for trouble and guards against it in advance.” That is, when water and fire interact and communicate harmoniously, the state of yin‑yang balance and the flourishing of all things is achieved. But the “superior person” should remain vigilant in times of peace, so as to avoid danger and attain greater success. The wisdom of the Zhouyi also becomes our expectation for the wisdom of Yang Wenping and Wang Xiaorong. Together, let us look forward to seeing them once again adapt, innovate, and succeed in their artistic creations.
Lin Zhu: Director of Dechang Art Cultural Institution and V-Exit Gallery, Co‑founder and Chief Curator of Qingdao International Art Annual Exhibition
---Artist---
Yang Wenping
Born in Mile, Yunnan Province. Graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Yunnan Arts University. Established a studio in Beijing in 2007. Professional artist. She has long been dedicated to the study of painting language, working with easel painting, photography, and installation. Her works are collected by institutions such as Today Art Museum, Suzhou Art Museum, Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art, Huawei Group, as well as domestic and international private collectors.
Recent Activities:
Solo Exhibitions:
2023: Whispers of Time (Kuan Space, Beijing)
2024: Heart Chakra (Usong Museum of Art, South Korea)
2025: Boundless Within (Hong Art Space, Beijing)
2025: Inner Energy (Ruifu Art Space, China World Trade Center, Beijing)
2026: Time Rhythms (Wenda Gallery, Kunming)
Selected Group Exhibitions (Recent Years):
2024: China-Europe International Art Biennale; China-New Zealand Artists Joint Exhibition
2025: After Concept – Post-Abstract and Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition; Stratosphere – Eight Case Studies in Chinese Contemporary Art
Wang Xiaorong
Born in Suide, Shaanxi Province. Graduated from Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts in 1997. Studied at the Russian Master Artists' Studio of the Chinese National Academy of Arts from 2005 to 2006. Member of Shaanxi Artists Association, member of Hudson Valley Artists Association (New York), member of World Peace Artists Federation, and member of the International Association of French Artists and Designers. Researcher at Yulin Art Museum, Shaanxi Province.
Recent Activities:
Solo Exhibitions:
2021: Time Traveler (FFA Art Center, Nanjing)
2025: Layers of Convergence (Jindu Art Space, Beijing)
2026: The Poetics of Line – Double Solo Exhibition (Zhong Art Museum, Xichang)
Selected Group Exhibitions (Recent Years):
2025: After Concept: Post-Abstract and Chinese Contemporary Art (Beijing Contemporary Art Archive)
International Open Call – 8th International Art Exhibition (Japan)
Finland-China Contemporary Art Exhibition (Helsinki)
Linear Art Exhibition (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum)
---Selected Works---
Whispers – 73
84 × 106 cm
Color ink on rice paper
2025
Wood Image. Fleeting Years – 18
75 × 96 cm
Ink and color on paper
2022
The Order of Time
110 × 120 cm
Mixed media on canvas
2023
Layers of Convergence Series
90 × 90 cm
Mixed media on canvas
Layers of Convergence Series
80 × 60 cm
Mixed media on canvas
2024