Antiques And The Arts Weekly (Wang Wusheng: ‘Celestial Realm' On View At Barry Friedman Ltd)	March 15, 2013

Wang Wusheng: ‘Celestial Realm' On View At Barry Friedman Ltd

        NEW YORK CITY - Barry Friedman Ltd presents “Celestial Realm”，a solo exhibition of large-scale black and white photography by contemporary Chinese artist Wang Wusheng. This is Wang’s first solo exhibition at Barry Friedman Ltd and his second exhibition in New York.
        In 2005,the Permanent Missions of China and Japan to the United Nations presented “Spirit of the East”, a two-person exhibition of Wang Wusheng’s photographs along with paintings by the late Japanese master artist Kaii Higashiyama in the General Assembly’s Visitor’s Lobby.
        “Celestial Realm” is on view at Barry Friedman Ltd through April 27.Accompanying the exhibition is a hardcover 240-page monograph, Celestial Realm: The Yellow Mountains of china, with an introduction by the noted art historian Wu Hung (Abbeville Press, 2005) For almost four decades, Wusheng has photographed China’s Mount Huangshan mountain range, also known as the Yellow Mountains. Located in the southern part of Anhui province in China, Mount Huangshan, with 72 peaks, has often been described as the world’s most beautiful and enchanting mountain range and has been the subject of Chinese artists for centuries.
        Born and raised in the foothills of dramatic landscape, Wusheng recalls, in his photographs, his early memories, as well as traditional Chinese ink drawings of mountains, sky and clouds. Wusheng’s enigmatic and ethereal photographs explore utopian visions, conveying a sense of timelessness. The stark contrast between sky and earth and the intense luminosity of the clouds in Wang’s photographs create landscapes of an “other” world.
        Wusheng was honored with a full-scale solo exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in 1998. It was the museum’s first exhibition for a living artist and its first exhibition of artistic photography.
        The Friedman gallery is at 515 West 26th Street. For information, 212-239-8600 or www.barryfriedmanltd.com.