Wu Guanzhong, The Wonderlust
My partner brought me to the Wu Guanzhong’s exhibition titled “Travelling with the master” at the National Gallery Singapore.
We already had a very long day and we only had an hour or so before the gallery was going to close. So I wasn’t feeling very excited to see the exhibition. I also have never heard of Wu and didn’t know what to expect of his art.
And so, I didn’t expect to feel all the emotions I did when I went into the exhibition. The exhibition was split into four sections (1) Daydreaming (2) Exploring (3) Beyond the horizon (4) Rhapsodies. It was curated by four docents that were inspired by Wu’s art and traveled to places that inspired Wu’s art pieces.
My favorite section of the exhibition is Daydreaming. I enjoyed the playfulness and simplicity of Wu’s abstract paintings using dots lines and ink. To me abstract art is the best way to encourage you to look at things from a fresh perspective, free of the conventional.
There were many impressive pieces, but a personal favorite would have to be A Dream in the Daytime. The painting may seem simple, featuring black ink Wu’s key pastel color scheme of light green, pink and yellow but the more you study it the more it seems to give to you. Of course for someone who loves pastels, I enjoyed the color scheme very much but there is something about the strokes that encourages you to wander and think of what it represents. To me, it represented the clouds and the colors of the sun's rays as it seeps through your surroundings. The colorfulness of experiencing everything for the first time. Experiencing life in my first year of being born into this world, 1991, the year A Dream in the Daytime was created. I stood there surprised that this piece led me to feel so emotional.
The exhibition was curated to encourage the viewers to travel within oneself or outside oneself. For all of us to explore the unknown and to be playful in how we interpret our experiences. Just like how Wu was an avid explorer that even created his own maps to document his experiences traveling around the world. I loved Wu’s philosophy of art. That he believes that art is a form of expression to show his appreciation for the beauty of nature and everyday life. He found that traveling was a way for him to explore his own artistic form of expression.
I enjoyed the exhibition very much and would definitely recommend it to others. I felt that the docent’s stories helped showcase the significant impact Wu have managed to have on those that enjoy his art. It was lovely not only to have been able to enjoy Wu’s pieces but also read through the stories of the curators. I believe this new format of co-created exhibitions is an interesting one. Especially for those like me that enjoy understanding the stories behind the art and the impact it had on others.
Overall, the exhibition helped remind me to pause and see the beauty around me and to rediscover the familiar with fresh perspectives. To try to make time to create in order to make sense of my own experiences.
