Shen Wei traverses cultural bridge

"I never intentionally tried to combine them," he said, "but my senses and understanding have evolved. Each medium opens a different perspective, allowing me to see a work of art more comprehensively, not just from an Eastern or Western viewpoint, but from a human civilization perspective."

Shen's recent abstract landscape paintings continue his dialogue with traditional Chinese shanshui painting and the natural world. Monumental in scale, the works carry a cinematic quality that draws viewers in, encouraging them to engage physically with the canvases and to reflect deeply on the relationship between nature, movement and perception, according to the dual-venue exhibition introduction.

One example of this is the large brown-toned painting that greets visitors upon entering Shen's exhibition at the Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. One of his recent works during the pandemic, Shen pushed the limits of brown oil paint with a work using only browns with different layers and difficult techniques while he was reading Dante's Divine Comedy.

While reading Divine Comedy, he was thinking not only about landscapes, but also about spiritual journeys, said London, adding that the work was very complex technically, and what he was able to achieve with just that color on linen is remarkable.