While the video simulations deconstruct linear narratives and hint at Wong’s interpretations of the circuitous nature of life and death, the artist’s ink paintings illustrate his perception of the cosmos. One of the major ink works is The Phantasm 5 (2015), a square diptych that measures almost two meters wide. Wong first used ink wash to dye the silk in multiple shades of grey, and then added details by brush. Mountains stood above all else in the composition, obscured by the murky black background. A bush of charcoal grey bamboo on the left is immerged in the slate dark rocks around it. Architectural features of an imagined cityscape—a staircase, a bridge and domes—are hidden among the textures of the mountain and waterfalls, no longer distinguishable from other elements in the surreal scene. He also explores materials such as egg shells in Will (Number 13456) (2016)—small pebble-like shells fracture in a yellow stream, whose brims are dyed jet black by ink. This marks Wong’s first forays into abstract painting, which are further demonstrated in Will (Number 6543) (2016) and Will (Number M3) (2017), two ink and color paintings on silk that measure two meters in length. In the former, ink merges with pink pigment, offset by trims of bright yellow at the center. A moon-like orb looms in peach-pink mist in the upper-right corner, above which impossible architecture rises like a faint mirage. The ink seeps down the crevices of Wong’s cliffs at the periphery, then rushes down the two-meter-long silk and halts with force in a curved stroke.

The most recent work, Will (Number M3), shows fluent alteration between the abstract and the concrete: a cluster of nearly symmetrical mountains float above an unfathomable sea of ink. Two ranges of mountains sandwich dreamy blends of salmon pink and light yellow. The dense ink eddies downward, forming vortices along the way, then halts in a U-shaped stroke pointing sharply upward. Wong emphasizes the transiting cycle between abstract and concrete forms, since both are evanescent, interrelated phases. What initially appears to be formless cannot be dismissed outright as unreal, because concrete forms can be forged when unseen elements congregate under specific circumstances. There are no universal rules to navigate such changes. The inertia of the circulation of life and death—being and nothingness—ensnares all of us, but the artist is determined to orient his artistic language with centrifugal force, steering our visions toward a new horizon.

“Centrifugal Force: The Art Field of Wong Chung-yu” is on view at Hanart TZ Gallery until July 15, 2017.

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