Conduit Gallery is honored to announce our first exhibition of work by Toronto-based painter Jeffrey Chong Wang.

The works in Wang’s show, Poems, are just that. Each an ode to fluid fantasy – animals in incongruous settings, serene public nudity, bucolic landscapes, and composite cityscapes. Wang’s paintings capture the confusion of a visual culture in an age of distraction. United by their consistent application of paint, muted color palette and dream-like interactions, or perhaps curious non interaction; each presents an almost Renaissance tableau. The pointed lack of eye contact between Wang’s characters serves as just one of the many elements in his compositions prompting the viewer to ponder what could conceivably be happening between these characters. There’s an eerie tension that feels surreal, perhaps sinister, or at least very darkly humorous. This subtext is balanced by the skillful rendering of his subjects and rigorous attention to detail.

Says Wang, “All the figures that I create on canvas are myself in a way; they reflect my cultural upbringing, personal feelings, and experiences. I think of them as characters in a drama, and the canvas as a stage. My work is a response to the imbalance between my inside feelings and the outside world.”

Influenced by his relocation to Canada from his native China, Jeffrey Chong Wang’s art reflects his emotions, memories, and perception of the world around him. He earned his BFA from Ontario College of Art and Design and his MFA from the New York Academy of Art in 2009. He has lived and studied in Florence, France and New York. Wang’s work has been exhibited internationally since 2008, most extensively in Canada and China.

Read the Visual Art Source review by John Zotos here.

Artists in this Exhibition

• Jeffrey Chong Wang

Artist Video