I overflow, I dew
I make the rain on the scorched wilderness.
--Nietzsche

‘Master of the wilderness, forgive us for presuming to visit, our feet, heavy on the wild paths and lanes, come nearer and nearer, and you are silent and still.’ This is a poetic passage from The Wilderness Dweller, which serves as the opening of today's solo exhibition by Mr Liang Bing, and pays homage to the natural life depicted in his works.

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Liang Bing's works have an awkward sense of childlike innocence. He incorporates childhood memories and the beauty of the natural wilderness into his painting language, and the contrast between romance and playfulness can often be seen in his works. When he paints a tiger, he paints a tender heart, and when he paints darkness, he paints a moment of light. He lets us see the poverty and struggle, the primitive and modern, the pain and happiness, and the richness of life, hunger and truth behind his works. At the same time, his works also contain shouts and thoughts about freedom: do you often find that the cruel society is never linked to truth, goodness and beauty, and even more so, cannot be accepted by our critical hearts, because of interpersonal rivalry and cold-bloodedness of transactions, so we take a stand with a gesture of resistance to defend the untainted principles in our hearts. Deep into the language of his paintings, one can feel his exhausted soul in the city being awakened by his vast and soulful monologue, and his love and passion for life lurks behind each piece of work.

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For example, in the series of ‘Birdman’, we see the birdman, the symbol of freedom, and the young man who fights for freedom; in the series of ‘Animals’, he expresses the animals as the language of human beings, and dialogues with his inner self, describing a series of social problems faced by contemporary young people, such as freedom and shackles, the present and the future, and moments of loneliness; in the series of ‘The Summer of 1993’, he records the happy life of the artist in the countryside during his childhood, and his carefree life in the countryside. Summer 1993’ is a record of the artist's childhood in the countryside, where he lived happily and without any constraints. The Prom’ is a group of people wearing masks attending a social party, talking in the prescribed language of this society, each unable to see the other's true appearance; “The Journey” expresses the idea that even if the whole world laughs at you, you still have to be your own hero. ...... His works are like the light of human nature under the frozen lake, dark and cold on the surface, but deep and churning, gentle and soft underneath. His works are like the light of humanity under a frozen lake, dark and cold on the surface, but deep and tumbling underneath, gentle and soft, straight to the heart.

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In the past few years of creating his works, Liang Bing, as a newcomer in art and an ‘old man’ in society, walked alone like a martyr, expecting to arrive at the other side of the shore of his ideal art, with no social life, no entertainment, unrestrained and silent, like an extremist and a traveller chasing after the beauty, and only through continuous creation could he find the liberation of his soul. Only through continuous creation can he find liberation for his soul. Through the intersection of memories and reality, the artist uses a non-linear narrative language to bring natural feelings and understanding of life into the inner world of human beings, in pursuit of the true self and the meaning of life, and in the midst of loneliness and hardship, he gradually gains insight into the essence of life.

And what is the essence of life may depend on each of us to discover it by ourselves.

- Shen Xiaofan