MANGROVEGALLERY is pleased to announce Wei Jia’s solo exhibition “Strenuous Journey II”. This exhibition will feature the new works created by the artist from 2020-2022 and is presented as a unique double solo exhibition. The eponymous works “Strenuous Journey I”and “Strenuous Journey II” are on view at Taipei MICHAEL KU GALLERY and Shenzhen MANGROVEGALLERY respectively.

“Strenuous Journey” takes the literal meaning from its English title: an expedition and a path filled with stamina.

Since 2020, Wei Jia’s brushwork and the colors he uses have wandered between the figurative and abstract, and between classical and modern styles, pursuing a sense of grandeur and freedom. The development of Wei’s brushwork shows a dynamic trajectory, the composition allowing a sense of all-around fluidity.

Wei Jia is an expert on “narrative,” solidifying a moment into a scene in his paintings, which emerges according to the requirement of the narrative amid the expansion of time and space. The “void” in the background can also become rich with substance, while the substance of the physical may contain a sense of void within, an aspect that is similar to time. The theme of the narrative can be an image or photograph that fuels the imagination or a familiar person or scene from reality. None of these are complex plots but attempt to express certain states of life. The people in the images do not have obvious emotions, and the neutral approach of the artist leaves both the paintings and their viewers the freedom to engage in dialogues.