点缀白 2019

王新福 made 点缀白, with what looks like thick applications of paint. It’s a total dance of color – greens, yellows, whites, and bits of orange all swirled together! The surface of this painting is so alive. You can almost feel the texture, the way the paint sits up off the canvas. It’s like Wang was really digging into the medium, letting the paint have its say. Take a look at that swoop of white near the top – the way it curves and blends, it’s so juicy and full of energy. I see a kind of landscape in there, a world of foliage, light, and shadow. There is something very reminiscent of Joan Mitchell here, that same willingness to dive headfirst into the material and let the painting become a record of the process. It reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation and a back-and-forth between control and chance.