A Touch of the Far East: Wang Lan - an exceptional Artist from China
Initially her images emanated the typical Chinese portraits. With ink-drawn landscapes, without colour. But that was too little for the artist from the Far East. Since then she portrays the energy of life on large pictures - on oil paintings and tapestries. And the colours play an important role in this context.
Born in the town of Tongren, in an urban area of ethnic minorities in Guizhou Province, Wang Lan studied traditional Chinese painting. Already her final artwork exam was awarded a prize of the university and paved the way for her future artistic career. In the late 80s she moved to Europe. She settled in Germany and toured Europe and the USA. Inspired by the painting art of the Western civilization, she returned back to China in the 90s and studied at the Shanghai Art Academy. From then on she combined traditional Chinese painting with modern Western art. This made her artworks that unique to this day.
Not enough, she returned to Germany in the late 90s and studied Textile Design in Kassel, where she graduated with a diploma. Why Kassel in particular was to become her new home was obvious: The art of painting in her heart and the Documenta in Kassel was an inseparable connection. Moreover, she participated in a Chinese art performance on the occasion of the Documenta and was crowned with success with "A Red Star Crossing Europe"
In 2007, Lan then founded her own fashion label named "Lancini". Here she sold traditional, artisanal clothing of the Miao with modern fashion design in Germany and the Netherlands. But her heart stayed at paintings. After having moved to Berlin she picked up the brush again. She nowadays delights with her symbiosis of traditional ink paintings in writing and images with the colourful elements of Western painting in changing exhibitions.
