The creative source of artist Wang Yuping is an expression on the basis of an experience in survival, the selection of subject matter focuses on the description of the plot of reality, and of an excellent “frosty coquettish” and “humorous” performance. He often uses a sketching technique, focusing on trifles and the state of ordinary people, to record, clip and transform the fragments, dispelling and releasing his experience, memory, hobbies and interests.

In terms of thematic structure, Wang Yuping’s work is not any grand narrative, but the fundamental part of the real life for ordinary people. On the one hand, by impromptu means, he puts the characters, scenery, items that are closely related in everyday life into his painting, making them like simple, plain details mixed together, to present the concrete aspect of daily life and the simple charm of painting itself; on the other hand, imagination of the evaporated “ownership” which is retained in the memory and the “homeland” which is deeply connected to personal life, though it is impossible to give up the emotional associations between them. When the cultural memory of loading the daily life space increasingly becomes floating, dissociative residue, Wang Yuping’s busy postmodern creation, constitutes the necessity and value of art in expressing daily experiences.

Perhaps, because the narrative of grand history or reality is often trapped in empty embarrassment, Wang Yuping is no longer deliberately seeking a performance of the metaphor meaning of the “cultural symbol” of the object. But he emphasizes the rich and delicate real individual experience, or a promotion and new discovery of the meaning of a bourgeois, secular life. So that the existing cultural memory is solidified, retained and resisted against in the lost imagination.

Wang Yuping (b.1962 in Beijing) is known for his gritty, comic book style portraits of urban life in China. His paintings are playful, feature rough, tough or absurd Beijing characters and seem to spy on life in the inner city as a kind of Wang Shuo of the art's world. He entered the Ceramics Department of Central Academy of Arts and Design in 1983 and changes to the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1985. Since he graduated in 1989, he has been teaching in the Oil Painting Department of CAFA.

In 1990, he participated in the Exhibition by the faculty of the Oil Painting Department at Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 1992, he participated in the New Generation Art Exhibition. In 1993, he had his second exhibition in National Art Museum of China. In the same year, Wang Yuping’s Works was published in Taiwan. In 1994, he took part in the Exhibition of Works Nominated by Chinese Art Critics; two of his works have been collected by the National Art Museum of China. In 1997, he participated in the 47th Venice Biennial. His works have exhibited in various notable exhibitions in China and abroad and were introduced to the American readers in the magazine of Art News. By placing us in intimate spaces with arresting, descriptive personal images, Wang Yuping continues his exploration of urban culture and social change.

Biography of  Wang Yuping

1962 Born in Beijing

1979 Worked in “Five Four One” Factory (Beijing Money Printing Factory)

1983 Enrolled in the Ceramics Department, Central Academy of Art and Craft

1985 Enrolled in the Oil Painting Department, Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA)

1989 Graduated from the Oil Painting Department, CAFA

Currently works in the No.4 Studio of the Oil Painting Department, School of Fine Art, CAFA

Solo Exhibitions(selected)

2013 “Taipei-Beijing”, Eslite Gallery, Taiwan, China

2011 “Hustling World – Works by Wang Yuping”, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

2011 “Annual Nominated Exhibition of Plastic Arts by the Central Academy of Fine Arts—Wang Yuping”, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China

2005 “Daylight”, Zhangjiang Art Museum, Shanghai, China

"Art Works by Wang Yuping”, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China

2004 “Fish”, Leda Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2002 “Art Works by Wang Yuping”, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China

"Art Works by Wang Yuping”, Guanxiang Art Center, Taiwan

2001 “Love”, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts Gallery, New York, USA

“Wang Yuping”, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2000 “Fish”, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China

1999 “With Birds and People”, Passage Gallery of CAFA, Beijing，China

1996 “Fish”, Vermont Studio Center Gallery, Vermont, USA

1993 “Art Works by Wang Yuping”, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing，China

Group Exhibitions

2013 “National Customs”, Dadu Museum of Art, Beijing, China

2013 “Portrait of the Times – 30 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China

2010 “Exhibition of the Works of Shen Ling & Wang Yuping”, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

“Works by Teachers at the Central Academy of Fine Arts”, Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing

“By Hand and On Paper”, Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

2009 “Central Academy of Fine Arts 60 years of Drawing”, Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing

2008 “Development and integration of Chinese modern oil painting Research Exhibition”, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

2007 2nd Art Documentary Exhibition, Art Museum of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China

“Decade Sleep”, Hejingyuan Gallery, Beijing, China

2005 2nd Beijing Biennale，National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

2003 1st Beijing Biennale，National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

2001 “Red Hot”, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China

“Academy and Non-academy”, Yibo Gallery, Beijing, China

“Trace•Future”, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China

2000 “Gate of the Century" Chinese Art Invitational Exhibition, Contemporary Art Museum, Chengdu, China

“One Hundred Years Exhibition of Chinese Oil Painting”, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing

3rd Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China

1999 “99 Qingdao International Art Invitational Exhibition”, Qingdao Museum, Qingdao, China

“100 Persons’ Small-size Oil Painting Exhibition”, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

“Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition”, San Francisco, USA

1st Chinese Contemporary Art Collection Exhibition, Dong Yu Art Museum，Shenyang, China

1998 “98 Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition of Fuzhou Asian Pacific Area”，Fuzhou Art Academy, Fuzhou

“50 Years of Chinese Painting”, Japan-China Friendship Center Tokyo, Japan

1997 47th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

1996 1st China Oil Painting Association Exhibition, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

1995 “8:30 PM– Exhibition of Teachers from CAFA”, Gallery of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

3rd Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

1994 “Exhibition of Works Selected by Art Critics”, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

“Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition”, Feng Ping Shan Museum, Hong Kong University

2nd Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

1991 “The New Generation” Art Exhibition, History Museum, Beijing, China

“20th Century China”, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

1988 “Works by Shen Ling and Wang Yuping”, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

1987 “1st Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition”, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China

Courtesy of Wang Yuping and CAFA ART INFO, annotations of works translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.