WendyLiang
The Year of Crisis and Trauma
Materials:
watercolor
156 in × 72 in
The Death of Dr. Li Wenliang, The Whistleblower of COVID19
Materials:
watercolor
26 in × 40 in
The Pandemic
Materials:
watercolor
26 in × 26 in
Ganges River
Materials:
watercolor
26 in × 40 in
Family – Barbecue
Materials:
watercolor
30 in × 22 in
Family - Where Have You Been?
Materials:
watercolor
30 in × 22 in
Family – Mother and Daughter
Materials:
watercolor
22 in × 30 in
Family – Father and Son
Materials:
watercolor
22 in × 30 in
Diversity – Afternoon
Materials:
watercolor
22 in × 30 in
Diversity – Morning
Materials:
watercolor
32 in × 26 in
Diversity – Festivities
Materials:
watercolor
51 in × 36 in
Diversity – Celebrating Diversity
Materials:
watercolor
30 in × 22 in
Diversity – Morning Ride
Materials:
watercolor
30 in × 22 in
Still Life – Harvest
Materials:
colored pencil
24 in × 18 in
Still Life – Strawberries
Materials:
colored pencil
24 in × 18 in
Still Life – Strawberries on Tablecloth
Materials:
colored pencil
24 in × 18 in
Still Life – Donut Peaches
Materials:
colored pencil
24 in × 18 in
Landscape – Sunny San Francisco
Materials:
watercolor
40 in × 26 in
Landscape – Morning Fog
Materials:
watercolor
40 in × 25 in
Landscape – Winter
Materials:
watercolor
40 in × 26 in
Landscape – Sausalito at Dawn
Materials:
watercolor
24 in × 18 in
Lanscape – Riverside
Materials:
watercolor
40 in × 26 in
Landscape – Deep Autumn
Materials:
watercolor
24 in × 18 in
Abstraction – Hope and Despair
Materials:
watercolor
51 in × 36 in
Abstraction – Nightmare
Materials:
watercolor
51 in × 36 in
Abstraction – Forest on Fire
Materials:
watercolor
51 in × 36 in
Abstraction – Blue-Green Algae
Materials:
watercolor
40 in × 26 in
Abstraction – Raised Ocean Temperature
24 in × 18 in
Abstraction – Thunderstorm
Materials:
watercolor
24 in × 18 in
Artist Statement
My artwork tell stories of the myriad of human emotions: loneliness, fear, doubt, anger, nostalgia, and sorrow. I reflect on crises, social injustice, and the impact of global climate change. My work marks the experience of this critical turning point in history and depicts the ways in which people rise to these challenges.
The triptych “2020 - the Year of Crises and Trauma” depicts the wildfires that swallowed California and the tornados, melting icecaps and floods that devastated the rest of the world. “The Death of Dr. Li Wenliang” is inspired by the tragic fate of the whistle blower of COVID19 who tried, unsuccessfully, to warn people of this fatal virus. In these works, I depict the vulnerability of ordinary people, and the oppressive political environments in which these people struggle to survive. I also reinforce the urgency of saving our planet.
Watercolor’s transparent and fluid qualities give me the freedom to create the catastrophic mood and atmosphere in abstraction, while making the distinctive realistic images stand out in the foreground. My abstract backgrounds serve the purpose of bringing out the realistic foreground--the exploding fire, smoke, the collapsing icebergs and the invading floods are all done in abstraction, while the figures, who are running away from these catastrophic scenes into a future of uncertainty, are done in realism with distinctive facial expressions of distress, pain and despair.
My art conveys complex and layered meanings, dualities and opposites. The metaphorical juxtaposition of Apollo, who is rational, calm and thoughtful, and Dionysus, who is impulsive, aggressive, and indulgent, coexist in my work. These dualities can exist in an infinite number of forms and variations. I am investigating the tensions between image and no image, materiality and no materiality, creative and receptive, and active and intuitive. I find realism to be a more reasonable way of delivering messages, while abstraction is more spontaneous, more expressive and intimate. Realism is my Apollo, and abstraction is my Dionysus.
Ordway