A Classical Showstopper and a Best in Show Winner

by Bob Bahr, Prairie Village Arts Council member

A crowd was around one particular painting all evening during the exhibition opening of "State of the Arts" on September 11 at the Prairie Village municipal building. Every show has paintings that are crowd pleasers, but rarely does one piece attract this level of attention. And everybody had questions.

The piece was "Return to Classicism--Portrait of a Lady," by Yeqiang (Ye) Wang, of Topeka, Kansas. Finished in 2022, the oil painting measures 48" x 32" and depicts a woman in 15th Century garb in the window of a modern storefront. People were delighted, fascinated, and curious. Is she a ghost? Is she a dream? Is she a mannequin in a store? Is the artist exploring the idea of seeing? Is he commenting on changes in society over human history? How does he do it with no visible brushstrokes? Why isn't this in a museum? Is she sad? Did AI do this?

"Return to Classicism--Portrait of a Lady," by Yeqiang Wang, 2022, oil on canvas, 48" x 32".

Artificial intelligence did not do this. Yeqiang Wang poured more than 500 hours into the creation of this painting. And its genesis comes from a very personal place. "I was new to Western culture when I moved from China at age 33," Ye says. "I was new to this world, and I saw this new culture like you see something through a display window. You can't see everything clearly. In a new culture you see everything partially clear and partially not." So in 2021 when Ye, who recently graduated with an MFA degree from the University of Windsor, in Canada, visited a neighborhood on the nearby Detroit River, he was struck by a reflection of his friend through glass, and pondered its ambiguous meaning. The figure reflected in glass created a there-but-not-there feeling, a crossing of worlds. He had found an artistic direction that felt right to him.

Ye wasn't just exploring the different worlds of East and West. He was also investigating the contrasts between classical painting and modern painting. Photorealism has long kept its place cozily next to abstract art in contemporary painting, and Ye's extensive technical training in China gave him the skills needed to pull off photorealism. He painted his Reflection series for 10 years. It was a hit among collectors, critics, and jurors.

"Reflection--Woman and Her Dog," by Yeqiang Wang, 2003, oil, 32" x 48".

"Reflection--Angels of the Morning," by Yeqiang Wang, 2008, oil, 40" x 30".

Then he saw a 1993 piece ("Odalisque Express") by fellow photorealist painter Tom Blackwell that depicted a poster of an Ingres painting in a storefront window, and Ye had a new idea. He would paint models in costume depicting classical paintings through glass in an urban setting, creating a contrast that asks questions and offers slender few answers, all of them leaning toward the universality of human nature even as human culture changes dramatically. He was excited, but the road in front of him was going to be long.

The new series would be called Return to Classicism. Ye started taking photos for the series in 2012. "Return to Classicism--Young Girl Reading" and "Return to Classicism--Lais of Corinth" came first, then he began the painting that would win Best in Show at the State of the Arts show hosted by the Prairie Village Arts Council, "Return to Classicism: Portrait of a Lady." That award-winning piece owed some of its power to a visit to Walmart.

"I found that model in Walmart and introduced myself in the checkout line," Ye says. "She looked like the figure in the painting, so I asked her if she would be a part of the project. I asked for a phone number and she said, 'No!' I said I understood, but that I would be in downtown Topeka at 5pm with another model and she could come see the photo shoot. The next day she and her friend came over and watched. She was a high-schooler, not even 18, and her mom said she needed to meet me and sign a contract. Later, after the girl saw us shooting photos, her mom said she didn't need to meet me in person. Just bring over contract to sign. I was very happy with the second photo shoot. This is my favorite among all because I was very happy with the photo."

"Return to Classicism--Lais of Corinth," by Yeqiang Wang, oil, 48" x 32".

He hired two tailors to make the costumes based on classical paintings. He hired people to help him make the tables, pottery, and jewelry to match the objects in the master works. In the case of Ye's Best in Show painting, the classical inspiration was "Portrait of a Lady" by Rogier van der Wyeden (1400-1464). Ye also had to make a piece of glass to serve as the reflective window integral to his concept, and it had to be portable so he could set up his composition for reference photographs in Topeka city streets.

"The furniture I had to make myself," says the artist. "It's a long preparation and very time consuming. The pose needs to be as close to the original painting as possible, and the glass has to be able to get moved around and angled perfectly. And it has to be photographed on a sunny day or the reflection would not be right. Sometimes we had to shoot five or six times. If the photo was not perfect, I would not even start the painting. It wouldn't be worth it."

Early on, Ye received crucial support from his employer, Dodge City Community College, and then money from his next employer, Washburn University, for the research project that would become the Return to Classicism series. Ye worked on the three paintings over four years, and when he showed them to the world in 2017, the acclaim was immediate. People loved the new series. It received national attention. Ye was not satisfied. "It was in a lot of exhibitions, but every time it came back, I would adjust it somewhat, in small places, here and there," he says. "You cannot do this too fast." It took him 550 hours to paint "Return to Classicism--Portrait of a Lady." So while that $25,000 price tag on the painting may make it an unlikely stocking stuffer gift for most of us, it is a bargain considering how many hours were poured into it. "Classicism is about perfection. I call it a return to classicism," Ye says simply.

"Return to Classicism--Young Girl Reading," by Yeqiang Wang, oil, 48" x 32".

It's also a study in contrast, as mentioned earlier--these painting series explore the differences between modern painting and classicism, but also Western culture and Chinese culture. Ye's approach is nuanced and balanced. He is forced to reckon with how his background and training is different than what is prevalent in North America, and how his technical training is lost on many art teachers in the West. On the other hand, finding models that look like the Europeans depicted in classical paintings is much easier in Topeka than in Chengdu. Like Ye, the centuries-old models in the classical paintings are displaced--in time.

"The glass functions as time travel," Ye says. "The glass in front of the camera reflects things behind me. These reflections are modern urban life, billboards, cars, signs, and people in modern clothes. It's a striking contrast, and you also feel like you are traveling through a time tunnel. It is a mysterious and interesting thing. It breaks the perfection of a perfect image. I'm deconstructing and reconstructing a figure in a classical structure. Deconstruction is an important idea of modern art."

The modern, urban setting is the key. "If I purely reconstructed a classical image, I still might have a good painting, but it is not as interesting. When you introduce modern life, it generates a power."

It is a powerful structure, built brick by painstaking brick. "My paintings are done section by section," Ye says. "I don't touch every part of the canvas at the same time. I focus on one part at a time. I might paint the headpiece for two or three days, just two to three square inches a day. I push myself very hard for details. If I paint all around, I lose the focus on the details--one could accept what has already been painted and move on. I was taught to raise up all levels to completion … but I do it differently."

The surface of Ye's prize-winning painting is glossy and smooth, with virtually no sign of the painter's hand. It's an amazing technical achievement, one that makes even the most casual viewer pause. Ye shrugs. "People only look at the result," he says. "If the result looks good, it really doesn't matter how you made it. Some people would be interested in how you made it, and some would be curious how you achieved your results. But a bowl of rice is a lot of tiny parts. Don't be greedy, do it little by little. When you are anxious, you are greedy, and you want to speed it up … and you screw up in a lot of places and end up spending more time."

Perhaps 550 hours is enough.