By Kelsey Ligon
Zionsville artist Zequn Wu has several of his landscape paintings on display at the prominent Agora Gallery in New York City.
The show, Emerging Visions, runs through Jan. 14 and features art from Wu and other artists whose work captures the collision between nature and humanity.
After submitting his work to the gallery in January, Wu was selected personally by Gallery director Angela Di Bello because she was taken with the “tranquil scenic milieu” typical of his work.
“By using Eastern methods to tell Western stories, Zenqun Wu is forming artistic bridges and connecting two great cultures,” Di Bello said.
Wu, known locally as “Z,” has been painting his whole life and was previously honored through the Top 100 Chinese Young Artists Exhibition. He studied under Chinese painter Xongxi Wang before he moved to the United States.
To reflect his experience growing up in China and moving to the U.S., Wu has tasked himself with the goal of increasing “the understanding, appreciation, and acceptance of Chinese painting” among Western audiences, he said.
Wu accomplishes this by drawing viewers into an American landscape as seen through the eyes of a Chinese artist. Idyllic scenes of small New England towns, dramatic visions of New York City, and breathtaking views of the Grand Canyon appear transformed through the use of different ink strokes.
In traditional Chinese art, ink strokes can range from light and feathery to dark and shadowy, and from wet to dry. These contrasts in ink tone and moisture help to express the emotional imagery of the landscapes.
Another aspect of Wu’s paintings is his limited color palette, which consists solely of browns, reds, and grays. This technique contributes to the alternative vision Wu presents and makes his audience feel as though they are experiencing the world through a dream.
