Mengyi Wang

Where do you live: California, USA
Your education: University of Southern California
Master of Arts, Global Communication
London School of Economics and Political Science
Master of Science, Global Media and Communications
University of California, Irvine
Bachelor of Arts, Art; Bachelor of Arts, Film and Media Studies
Describe your art in three words: Fusion, Nature, Animal
Your discipline: Acrylic on canvas
Website | Instagram

Your artwork reflects a beautiful blend of modern impressionism and traditional Chinese art. How do you approach balancing these two styles in your creative process?

I value balancing my art styles the same as how I balance my life styles. I always immerse myself in both the landscapes of impressionism as well as traditional Chinese art. Chinese art and calligraphy are the first art techniques I learned as a kid that have greatly influenced my expression through art mediums. Later in life, acrylic has become an important component of my creative mediums that I have been able to use as the overall framework to expand my main painting series. I measure modern impressionism as the framework throughout my creative inspiration for me to narrow down the composition of lighting and colors for each painting and using the style of traditional Chinese art to capture the detailed objects and to visualize the landscape to be ethereal.

Growing up in a bi-cultural environment has clearly influenced your work. Could you share a specific memory or experience that inspired one of your paintings?

While living in California, going to the Summer Palace as well as the Forbidden Palace in Beijing have always been my core childhood memories that have inspired me to paint ancient palaces and villages in beijing as my themes as a student. Exploring nature, especially admiring lotus flowers, has been in my roots to embrace my hometown as well as to explore California when I first moved there. When I spot the beautiful lotuses blooming at the Huntington Library in California, I especially recall my childhood memories spent with my family at the Summer Palace watching lotus in the pond and feel a strong personal connection that has profoundly shaped my journey as an Asian artist living in the U.S. It has inspired me to create my painting “Lotus in Memory” that blends different hues of green together just like blending my bi-culrual environment.

Mengyi Wang, Lotus in Memory, 2024

You often use empty space intentionally in your works. Could you elaborate on how this technique contributes to your storytelling?

Leaving empty space intentionally is an aesthetic technique and a symbol commonly used by traditional Chinese artists that delivers imagination as well as profound possibility. Throughout my education in art, film, and global communication, I found myself always being a narrative and storytelling person. I see everything in a narrative way and would like to deliver my creative artwork through storytelling. While I create the artworks with my strong emotions built by my personal memories, the empty space symbolizes the connection between my artworks and my audience, inviting them to immerse themselves and find or recall their own personal memories beyond what’s shown in the painting.

Nostalgia and memory are recurring themes in your art. How do you choose which memories to translate into your paintings?

I am always on the journey to find art inspirations that have emotional resonance and symbolic potential as my key art sources. As an Asian woman artist living in the U.S., I select memories that evoke strong emotions, whether feelings of joy or wonder, and objects that can connect my feelings and experiences both here and in Beijing.

Your recent series focuses on connecting personal memories with objects. Could you walk us through the inspiration and creative process behind one of these works?

“Oleander in Canyon Hills” is one of my recent life reflections. Finding the beauty of nature has been my consistent goal within my old myth that beauty is only found in the great wide places. While taking a mental break close to home, standing on the stair in the park watching the pink oleanders blooming on the hill was the first time in a long while I got to pause and adore nature. It was the first time I realized beauty is in the little things I discover, no matter the size of the environment. That moment was profoundly sentimental and emotional, and I decided to transcribe it onto my painting.

Mengyi Wang, Sage in Fantasy, 2024

What role does color play in conveying emotions and narratives in your paintings?

The color scheme is always an important component of my creative journey. Born in Beijing and residing in California, I absorbed the tremendousness of the historical capital and the fantasy of Disneyland. This inspired me to create a healing process with balanced color palettes featuring various green hues as well as vivid pink and purple shades. No matter where the viewers are when they are viewing my pieces, I invite them to walk through a calm and positive journey.

Having exhibited internationally, how do audiences from different cultures respond to your fusion of styles and themes?

Exhibiting internationally has shared with me many valuable insights into how audiences from diverse cultures respond to my paintings. I appreciate the joyful expressions when viewers with a Chinese cultural background recognize the traditional elements in my work, such as brushwork, the lonely duckling swimming in the pond, and the color palettes that symbolize Chinese culture. At the same time, I have received feedback from viewers with non-Chinese cultural backgrounds that they find the paintings fresh and innovative with the fusion approach and the storytelling narrative.

Mengyi Wang, Velvet Sage in Memory, 2024