Yu Shang #4, oil on canvas

Leigh Wen was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and now lives and works in New York City. The artist uses oil paint to create expansive landscape paintings that use a fascinating combination of planes of colour and tiny, thread-line lines, building dreamlike, textural landscapes. 

Fire XI, oil on canvas

I really love how Wen’s works feel different depending on the distance from which they are observed. At a distance, they come together as beautifully abstracted landscapes, with compositions that almost seem to draw on traditional Chinese watercolours, though without the same emphasis on negative space, and with more saturated, vibrant colouring. The artist’s technique of layering fine line art over deep planes of colour begs a closer look, and in a detailed view it’s easy to get lost tracing the flow of the artist’s hand.

The artist’s current portfolio is organized into natural elements, and it’s fascinating to see how the artist’s style shifts -- and stays the same -- in the accommodation and evocation of different elements, like air, water, and fire.

Deep Sea I, oil on linen