Ink + Water

Artist

Hi, I'm Yuan Wang. I'm a painter and product designer working in San Francisco. I was born and raised in Northeastern China, and I got into drawing at the age of 5.

The Collection

I started #100daysofchinesepainting in April 2015 to search for an art direction that represents who I am and where I come from. Classical Chinese poetry has always been the source of my inspirations because it has an intense inter-relationship with Chinese ink painting and calligraphy. I wanted to combine those classic art forms in modern mediums to get more people interested in Chinese art and culture.

Inspirations & Process

Words in classical Chinese poetry create visual pictures in my mind. I'm obsessed with painting those visual pictures on paper. As a result, lots of my inspirations came from classical Chinese poems and idioms.

I paint with classical Chinese painting supplies, which include ink, painting brush, rice paper, ink slab, brush washer, and Chinese watercolors. Most of them were brought from China.

For the prints presented to you in this Collection, I decided to edit the originals and add the calligraphy and personal seal digitally because rice paper is delicate and thin (not a great material for hard frames). Converting classical art forms to modern mediums satisfies me deeply as it enables me to reach more people with my artwork.

The Frames

For this Collection, I recommend Black Maple frame with 1.50" off-white mat. Personally I prefer thin frame width like 0.75", but all the width options should compliment these prints quite well.

Next Step

Besides making prints, I'm also working on printing my artwork on silk. I just started experimenting some ideas and am quite excited about its potential. Follow me on Instagram @chinesepainting or Twitter @YuanWang1 for more updates.