The Institute for Chinese Studies presents the "China in Transition" Lecture Series.
"Cross-Boundary Practice and Imagination in Contemporary East-West Artistic Creation"
Leah Lihua Wong, Artist
Abstract: One of the core issues in relation to contemporary art is the dialog between Eastern and Western cultures. It’s important to keep an open mind and to understand cultural perspectives from multiple points of view. The challenge for artists in artistic creation is to find personal cultural space and to create work that can communicate with international viewers, transcending national restrictions.
As a Chinese who has studied, taught and worked in both Chinese and US universities and art colleges, and as an artist who has been pursuing an artistic career for over twenty years, I have evaluated my artistic directions with perspectival viewpoints. History, traditions, and my current cultural and living environment all play their roles. Cross-cultural and cross-boundary issues have become an ongoing negotiation in my artistic creative process.
I will present my artworks and talk about the evolution of boundary-crossing in my artistic practice.
Bio: Born in Qingdao, China. Leah received her BFA in oil painting from the China Academy of Arts in Hangzhou, China and earned her MFA in painting from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. As an undergraduate, she studied with internationally celebrated abstract artist Zao Wou-Ki. She taught at Shanghai Theater Academy in Shanghai before moving to the US in 1993. She currently lives and works in Columbus, Ohio.
Leah’s work has been exhibited in art galleries and museums nationally and internationally. In 2011, the Asian Art Archive in Hong Kong documented her involvement in China’s contemporary art movement. In 2015, she was invited by the Power Station of Art, Shanghai’s national contemporary art museum, to participate in the exhibition “Calligraphic Time and Space: Abstract Art in China.” In 2016, the Power Station of Art museum added her paper installation “Floating Memory” to its permanent collection. Her cut-paper installations are currently on exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in Shanghai.
As a child, Leah loved to draw and learned traditional Chinese paper-cutting. Her current work has evolved from traditional paper-cutting. Across different media, Leah's work explores volume, void, and light and shadow in transformation. The open-ended lines and space create a dialogue between cultures and concepts.
Co-sponsor: Department of the History of Art, OSU
This event is sponsored in part by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.
