Artist preserves old styles through painting and calligraphy

Wang Yiyang's artwork [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

His traditional Chinese paintings have their own brand of originality. For example in his painting, "Qu Yuan, Poet, Reciting While Walking," viewers can get a sense of the poet walking with spirit. Wang has great admiration for many well-known historical Chinese artists and also painted figures such as Wen Tianxiang, Yue Fei and Lu You.

"Dancing in Long Sleeves" is another example of Wang bringing a scene to life. He uses a flowing Chinese handwriting style to reflect the musical tunes and dynamic dance movements of the image. It is a work that provides us with further evidence of how Wang infused his deepest feelings into his work.

In 1989 Wang has served as the dean of Mt. Longshan Art College which was established by Wang as an attempt to recover Heitao, another traditional Chinese art form.

In his book Internal Monologues of Yiyang, (《易揚(yáng)心語(yǔ)》) he said, "It is an unrestricted moving ink stroke with the wise creativity of our ancestors. I regard it as a treasure, striving to utilize and express it with more skills and colors. When it comes to the aim that I pursue in art, it is not to produce Kuangcao portraits but to promote the essence of traditional Chinese art. All I really care about is the vitality that my work brings to those who see it."