风絮芦苇 2020

This painting by 王新福, entitled 风絮芦苇, or Willow Catkins and Reeds, is a wild, textural landscape rendered with thick daubs of paint. You can almost feel the artist building this scene, one loaded brushstroke at a time, shifting and rearranging forms until they find their place. I sympathize with 王新福, picturing them standing before the canvas, wrestling with the reeds and the wind. See how the paint is applied so thickly, like buttery strokes of yellow, green, and brown? Each mark is almost sculptural, giving a real sense of depth and movement. The texture creates such energy; you can almost feel the wind rustling through the reeds. It reminds me of other painters who use impasto to build up the surface of their paintings, creating dynamic and engaging surfaces. We’re all in conversation, you know? Ultimately, painting is about embracing the unknown, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings to emerge, without the need for fixed readings.