An Artist’s Journey to the Canvas

by Kylie Shafferkoetter

In Victor Wang’s world, the sunflower is as much a symbol of simplicity, laughter and hope as it is of loneliness, desperation and confinement. In this Fontbonne art professor’s newest series of oil paintings, “Memoir of a Sunflower,” the Chinese-born Wang deftly incorporates dark, wilting — almost ominous — sunflowers into the background of his portraits.

“The sunflower has been very meaningful in my life,” says Wang, who grew up in the small northeastern city of Qiqihaer, near the Russian border. “The sunflowers in my paintings are dry and not very pretty. They are life and death with some happiness and some sadness.”

Wang distinctly remembers running with his brother in their family’s backyard, darting between the sky-stretching sunflowers, giggling and living the life of a child — carefree and happy. And then the Cultural Revolution hit in 1966. Chairman Mao Zedong started the revolution as a campaign to purge China of what he saw as “liberal bourgeoisie” elements. And the sunflower became a symbol of the Chinese people following Mao, who thought himself “the sun.”

As Wang recalls, much of his schooling thereafter was either cancelled or intermittent, as teachers cared little if students were in class or not. Most children attended political debates in the streets during the school day.

“I didn’t do that. I stayed in and painted,” says Wang, whose brother — then a set builder for a local theater — brought him paints and brushes. “It was confusing. A lot of young kids learned bad things. I just tried to take it one day at a time.”

As the revolution progressed and his schooling remained irregular, an 11-year-old Wang was inspired by the large political cartoon posters attached to buildings and on billboards. “I would sit and copy the cartoons for myself to learn how to draw and create characters,” he says.

Although the arts were revered in the Wang household — his father was a Western-style stage actor and his mother was a librarian who would bring home art books for her youngest son — Wang never dreamed of art as a way of life. “A teacher asked me once what I wanted to do when I grew up and I said ‘a farmer’ because I loved plants,” he says laughing.

In a twist of fate, after his sporadic high school education ended, Wang was forced by the Chinese government to work on a sunflower and corn farm. This was Mao’s idea of “re-education by farming,” according to Wang. Mao maintained that people with educations — even those with as little as six years of schooling — had forgotten about manual labor and looked down on the working class. In an effort to change their perceived snobbery and laziness, Mao ordered young adults to a life of labor.

“The fields were so long that all you could see was the horizon,” Wang says from his Fontbonne office, where his sketches randomly adorn the wall. “It was so painful because I thought that was my life. It was numbing at first.” Monthly visits from family were a helpful and welcome break from the monotony, and eventually he grew accustomed to his new life.

Wang persevered two years and eight months of lonely days starting before sunrise and ending after sunset. The revolution dissolved after Mao’s death in 1976 and Wang’s days as a laborer ended. “I was so happy when it was over. I had hope for a new life,” he says. During the long stretch on the farm, Wang realized he wanted to pursue painting. He applied to Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, one of the top three art institutes in China, according to Wang. After passing a competitive entrance exam— only 47 were accepted from 4,000 applicants — Wang began his new life as an artist.

“I really wanted to express the emotional impact those experiences had on me. For me, painting was my therapy. The more painful life was, the more passionate I was about my work,” he says.

After graduating from Lu Xun, Wang was hired by the academy as an assistant professor in the department of oil painting. He then came to the United States in 1987 as part of a university exchange program and studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He would then earn a spot as a visiting scholar at Washington University in St. Louis. Meanwhile, he set his sites on bringing his wife and young child to the states. After the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, however, Wang was unable to return to China.

He struggled to get his family visas from the Chinese government. His wife received hers first, but the heartbroken parents had to wait four more years before their daughter, who was 6 when she finally arrived, was permitted to leave China. “It was very hard. We missed her every day and she didn’t really know us when she was little,” says Wang. The artist would eventually earn a master’s of fine arts in painting from Fontbonne and was hired as a professor of painting and drawing for the university in 1991.

Wang’s current large-scale oil paintings are in a classic Western style, with heavy dramatic brushstrokes that create texture reminiscent of Rodin sculptures — known for deeply pocketed surfaces. The rich colors and thick paint give his paintings an immediacy that draws the viewer in and evokes a sense of familiarity as one stares into the open faces of his subjects.

His work is receiving attention nationally and internationally. Both American Art Collector and American Artist magazines have featured him on their covers. And Steven Diamant, president of Arcadia Fine Arts Gallery in New York City, says he has sold numerous Wang pieces to collectors in Dubai, France, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Spain, England, Canada and across the United States.

“You don’t look at Victor’s works and say, ‘Oh, his paintings remind me of so and so’s work’ because they don’t. Victor’s paintings are completely unique and original. I have never seen another artist that has created what Victor is doing,” says Diamant, whose gallery represents Wang.

The 51-year-old resident of Ballwin, Mo., was the recipient this spring of Fontbonne’s first Scholar/Artist Award, an honor that highlights the work of current full-time faculty members who have distinguished themselves in the areas of scholarly or artistic achievement. “I feel greatly honored and humbled to receive this award. I will take this wonderful opportunity to create more works,” Wang says. He received a $5,000 stipend as well as a six-credit hour release from teaching during the 2007-2008 school year.

“I really enjoy working at Fontbonne and I love what I do. I recognize that students need a good instructor. I had great teachers, and I really enjoy helping students improve,” Wang says. “My wife says I have a patient nature and that helps me teach.”

It is, perhaps, this patient nature that has helped Wang endure adversity and now reclaim a symbol of his painful past — beautifully.