Meet The Artist: Wan Yiguang

wan7Wang Yiguang  (Chinese: 王沂光) sometimes written as Wang Yi Guang, is a modern Chinese painter notable for his Tibetan paintings of flying people, yaks and sheep. wan1Wang Yiguang was born in Yimeng Mountain area of Shandong, China. He is a younger brother of a notable painter, Wang Yidong, a leading artist of a group called Beijing Realism. Wang Yiguang does not belong to the group for obvious reason — his paintings hardly could be called realistic. This is not to say that every strand and a wisp of fur on the back every yak on his paintings isn’t superbly realistic.

In 1990, Wang Yiguang graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. He participated in various National and International exhibitions and Art fairs in Beijing,Guangzhou,Tokyo and Hong Kong. wan25wan9
wan21Note the rail tracks on several of the paintings. Wang Yiguang, as it happens, currently works as a Creative Designer for the China Railway.

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In 2002 he worked on the Qinghai-Tibet railway. The painter was struck by the “humble beauty” of the Tibet. He wrote:
I have been able to visit the Tibetan plateau a number of times. I’ve been deeply touched by the breathtaking landscape of Tibet and the happy-go-lucky spirit of the Tibetan people. The Tibetan people’s profound regard for the natural world and animals has also cast a life-long impression on me.

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When I was in Tibet, I spent a lot of my time lying down in the grass, as I suffered from acute mountain sickness. As I lay there gasping for air, a delightful picture revealed itself before me: a couple of young, spry Tibetan girls racing about the countryside with their herd of yaks. These Tibetan girls reminded me of ‘Feitian’, the flying Devi (literally: ‘goddess’)*, when they are still earthly beings.

Tibet afloat… Breathtaking.