WANG Haiyang

Wang Haiyang’s artistic practice entails painting, video, sculpture, and installation, among other mediums. Viewing Wang Haiyang’s work is like staring into an abyss where grotesque characters, ambiguous psychologies, and lustful passions swell in alluring danger. In his work, rebellious desires battle with repressive norms. The imaginative, everchanging figures and bodies often appear in surreal environments in unexpected forms and logic. He throws himself and his subjects into the most intimate, fragile, dangerous, and absurd scenarios and, like a bayonet, slowly dissects and uncovers the most subtle parts of the subconscious self.

Wang Haiyang (b. 1984, Shandong Province, China) received his BFA from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 2008. Recent solo exhibitions include WANG Haiyang, Capsule Shanghai, Shanghai, China (2018); Wang Haiyang, WHITE SAPCE BEIJING, Beijing, China (2018); Wang Haiyang: By Himself, OCAT Xi’an, Xi’an, China (2017); Wang Haiyang, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2016); Dynamic Field: Wang Haiyang, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2016). Wang Haiyang’s video work Double Fikret was awarded the second prize at the 55th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (Germany), as well as the special jury prize at the 11st Sommets du cinéma d’animation (Montréal Animated Film Summit). In 2010, his piece Freud, Fish and Butterfly was awarded the Grand Prix at the 25th Holland Animation Film Festival (HAFF). The two works were simultaneously shortlisted for a total of more than 20 international film festivals. Wang Haiyang currently lives and works in Beijing, China.