Public Space No 26 by Wu Yang.

Today's red-hot Chinese art market is always looking for something new and it appears abstract painting has become one of the coolest new discoveries. Renowned curator Fang Zhenning (pictured right) says the Chinese community has long understood the fine art of creating and appreciating abstract essentials in visual imagery thanks to Chinese characters, calligraphy and painting.

"But we never relate calligraphic artto a painting, because its function as a language was established,"he says.

"However, there have always been abstract elements in Chinese painting from the very beginning. The most outstanding example is Master Badashanren from the Qing Dynasty."

Fang now has a new favorite abstract artist Wu Yang (pictured left), who has blown away critics, curators and foreign artists with a breakthrough new exhibition.

Flying White is the fourth solo exhibition for Wu Yang, who comments on China's fast developing urban landscapes by painting striking black-and-white abstract acrylic images on photographic paper.

The artist's combination of photographic paper and Chinese ink images of the urban landscapes has interested foreign art critics who have praised her traditional-modern fusion technique.

Indian artist Sarbajit Sen has said he was very inspired after seeing Wu's paintings because it gave him special insight into the Chinese psyche.

"I felt a strong energy and discovered very familiar poetry of an urban mindscape where things are fragmented and are in a constant state of flux and uncertainty."

Sen said the discovery of new art ideas inspired him to be a better artist himself.

German art critic HD Schrader said he was very impressed by the subject of urban spaces presented on photographic paper.

He said Wu's language was very contemporary yet the painting naturally creates feels of Chinese ink painting.

Fang, who is curating the exhibition, organized by FANGART gallery, says the "Flying White" technique used by Wu, is one of the important painting techniques of traditional Chinese painting.

Flying white is a style, in which the artist leaves large areas of blank space in order to allow the subject to leap from the painting. However, these blank spaces, of various shapes and sizes, form a pattern in themselves and work together with the subject. The combination is designed to trigger an emotional response from a curious mind. The term flying is translated from liu bai or "leave blank".

"It is part of the traditional aesthetics of Chinese art and we can feel the beauty of this style in Wu Yang's paintings," he says.

"But this old technique doesn't contradict the modern nature of her works. It just unconsciously reminds us of the certain link between our modern lives and China's rich artistic tradition."

Wu says she was looking for something substantial and concrete in the abstract. Something between reality and imagination.

"When you look at the originals, you may think it's rather abstract with no specific figure or form. But when you zoom in and reduce the painting into the size of a stamp, you can recognize the exact space in the painting. I think this is the most interesting part about my paintings," she says.

"I believe Chinese are born with the ability to understand qi. But a real artist doesn't have to utter his/her ethnic identity or gender. If my paintings remind viewers of Chinese ink painting, I'd rather take it as unconscious expression and I'm just keeping it there."

Wu graduated from the post-graduate class for assistant lecturers at the department of mural paintings of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 2001.

She began studying art at age 10 and says she consciously applied qi, or the spirit from Chinese painting, in her paintings to make sure shapes and lines are presented in variation and continuous motion.

Regarding the public space theme, Wu says everybody can relate to public space because our private space is quite limited.

"Most of us have to go out to interact with public spaces. I did not want a simple reproduction of the real scene. It is a compressed and stretched rendition of the abstract space," she says.

"The spaces I paint are actually complicated scenes with a lot of things and goings-on. I put them in black and white to dehumanize them into objects and shapes, to return to the essentials of drawing."

Fang says Wu's paintings search for concreteness and lots of objects and spaces are screened off in order to leave a final image on the photographic paper.

"However, Wu Yang's abstract painting is direct. Her public space series provides a special space, where many people can stay, share and enjoy," he says.

Flying White, 10 am-5:30 pm, till April 15

FANGART, Room 510, Block 16, Houxiandai-cheng, 16 Baiziwanlu, Chaoyang District, Beijing

8776-5159

(China Daily