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A brave and abstract artist
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Wu Yan
WANG CHUAN, an abstract painter, has managed to get a very nasty and definitely not abstract disease - gastric cancer. A similar paradox exists between his paintings, which few people dare claim to understand, and his very logical writings.
Wang, a freelance artist, now has his works -- both paintings and writings -- on exhibition at He Xiangning Art Gallery.
Wang started to develop an obsession with abstract art in around 1985. Since then, he said he has felt lost and lonely, ever searching. At the same time, he has also suffered a decline in his physical health, bleeding in his bowel and attacks of insomnia. However he wouldn't let anything interfere with his passion for art and so ignored the symptoms, taking painkillers to stop the ache in his back and stomach. In 1998, he was diagnosed with gastric cancer T3 NOMO.
Eighty per cent of his stomach has now been removed. However he has learned from his medical treatment, saying that cancer is just like everything else in life: full of uncertainty and unexpected complications. He thought a lot about death, the limits to human life, immortality and began to realize that our earthly bodies alone don't simply represent our lives. He told himself: "The more times I am defeated, the more I will gain the will and power to survive."
After that, everyday he got up at around 7:00am to exercise, he started to keep a diary and write a book. He planned every hour and every minute of his day, in order to efficiently use the time he still has left. "Now I look at everyday as a gift, and I have to fully enjoy it," he said. Between chemotherapy sessions, he does "ink-on-paper" paintings, which differ from his previous ones in that they are not restrained by a set of rules. Unlike other artists of that style, Wang paints mostly just with black ink.
Wang said he paints to express his feelings and emotions, and belongs to a minority of painters, as he estimates that only about 100 artists out of the country's 500,000 painters are engaged in the creation of abstract art. But he said: "I'm not the kind of man who is constantly in pursuit of success. The meaningfulness of my life lies in its failure. The best end to me is the kind that is full of care and continuation of spirituality."
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