“The human body is an eternal theme. Like a math puzzle, throughout time, there have been a handful of artists who have been flirting with each other to solve it. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division advance their pursuit of a truly minimalist goal.

There is now an artist who has found a way of doing this with just ‘three lines.’ A living artist who can now put down his pen and say: we can rest.

Some works of art, open a door, open up a way, and some works do the contrary.”

In praise of “Trois Lignes” by Wang Keping

花枝多寂寞
极简最洒脱
一毛不拔也
可以随便摸

Wang Keping was one of the founders of the non-conformist artist group “The Stars” (Xing Xing), formed in 1979 during the post-Cultural Revolution “Beijing Spring”. This group of young avant-garde artists challenged the status quo and were pivotal in initiating some of the first free art expressions in the Post-Mao era bringing together like-minded artists such as Huang Rui and Ma Desheng. As one of France and China’s foremost sculptors, Wang Keping’s sculptures are an exploration of the human form. With a natural intuition of space and balance, they convey a highly sensual representation of the female body, of man and woman, mother and child. Wang Keping reveals the natural contours of the wood: the grain; knots; and flaws to evoke figurative representations in his work. Inspired in his early years by masters of European Modernist sculpture, his search today stems from Taoist ideas of simplicity and nature, material and the non-material, physical and spiritual, each piece defying definition. This work Trois Lignes is a personal achievement in the genre of figurative sculpture where just 3 lines evoke the sensuality and purity of the female body.