怡红 2020

王新福's painting, 怡红, is a thick impasto of reds, greens, and whites spread dramatically across the surface. I can only imagine the studio, maybe it was hot, maybe the artist had been working for hours. The paint is so physically present, you can almost smell it, that linseed oil smell. I bet 王新福 was really in the zone while making this; each stroke seems decisive and full of energy. It reminds me a little of Joan Mitchell's gestural abstraction, but there's something else going on here, a rawness, maybe a bit like Soutine. See the way the colors blend and clash? It is like the artist is wrestling with the material, but also letting it do its own thing. It makes me think about how painting isn't just about what you see, but how you feel and how you move. Painting is such a great way to get out of your head and into your body and the world.