new art at Three Graces produces motion out of stillness

Shiao-Ping Wang’s paintings are moving. Not just because a thing of beauty stirs emotions, but because the artist is inspired by growth and change, the flow of time, and the transition from her native Taiwan to the United States.

The evolution of several layers of paint expresses these ideas as well as the paint itself. Wang combines two kinds of paint to create the impression of movement. The acrylic is glossy and the flashe, a vinyl paint, is matte.

Her recent work is on display until June 9 at Three Graces Gallery in downtown Portsmouth, complemented by sculpture from Melissa Turner. The two-person art exhibit opened May 9 as part of the city’s monthly Art Round Town event.

The sculptures by Turner, which are labeled only M. Turner, like the music of M. Ward, are large but delicate bowls with walls that twist and fold into the center. The all-white or -black sculptures have a way of capturing shadows that add another facet. In her artist statement, she writes, “I am intrigued by the visual obscurity of one part by another, requiring physical movement to come to understand the piece as a whole.”

The curves formed in clay happen to mirror some of the work by Wang, particularly when the sculptures are viewed from directly overhead. Three Graces owner Kim Ferreira said Wang has occasionally shown work at the gallery since it opened in 2004. “It’s fun watching her grow as an artist,” Ferreira said.

Though Ferreira has a formal background in art and rarely finds herself moved by abstract work, she said she has a strong response to Wang’s paintings. She appreciates the balance between expression and organization. “I find more and more to look at each time I see them,” she said.

Wang said she has recently arrived at a method that is more intuitive and less controlled, despite her own formal training. She starts each painting with a vague idea and lets it develop on the canvas. “Something will strike me, but I don’t quite understand its meaning,” she said. Sometimes, she added, the original idea isn’t all that evident in the completed work.

Wang’s “Right and Left” is two square paintings side by side, each representing one side of the brain. The left side is somewhat messy and spontaneous, while the right side is blocky and neat. She said she sometimes feels one painting is only “half the picture” and combining two makes it complete, like the full circle of Yin and Yang.

Like much of her work, though colorful, “Right and Left” is light with pastels and white and contains modern symbols. Wang said she is fascinated by patterns and repeatedly paints symbols, such as commas and conversation bubbles. She said she finds the repetition affirming. Chinese was her first language, so pictographs are ingrained in her mind. “The language has a sound and meaning, but it also has a shape,” she said.

Wang immigrated to the United States in 1981. She studied both Western art and Chinese art in New York, and now teaches art at the University of New Hampshire.

Her history is also a part of a painting called “Then and Now,” in which she weaved together maps from her native village and the city of Somersworth. Wang also uses lines that have begun to link or knot like thread as a way to provoke movement and change, but also maintain a tie between the past and the present. 

The exhibit runs until Monday, June 9 at Three Graces Gallery, 105 Market St., Portsmouth, 603-436-1988.