Blue de Paris

Hangzhou, the city where I live, is grey-green. Its humid climate and constant rain give it a hazy, muted tone. For nearly a decade, Hangzhou was the central subject of my work.

Paris is my home away from home. Sixteen years ago, during my first residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, I felt that part of me stayed behind. Since then, Paris has always been baby blue in my imagination.

From 2019 to 2022, I created a series of paintings titled The Wall. When I moved into my Paris studio, I discovered that my window looked directly onto a wall dotted with small orange chimneys. In the past, walls represented limitation and enclosure in my work. Here, this wall became the boundary of blue Paris.

As a painter, I have worked primarily in oil almost 21 years. During this residency, however, I chose to leave it behind and experiment with watercolor, pastel, and oil pastel. Working with unfamiliar materials often made me feel like a beginner again, but it also opened new possibilities.

In tennis, a service break can change the course of a match. I hope this residency will become a break point in my own artistic journey.

Wang jin