Beom Jun, Jeah Hyuck & Tong Wu

“A refreshing new take on an old theme – essentially the battle between
good and not so good – ie bad! Not be be missed.”

Tong Wu at The J/M Gallery 230 Portobello Road London W11 1LJ (also
featuring Beom Jun and Jeah Hyuck) until Tuesday 19 March. Close to Notting
Hill Gate and Ladbroke Grove tubes and a number of bus routes.
Freelance reporter Tabish Kahn interviewed Tong Wu at the venue on
Saturday evening March 16 and it was later revealed that Tong achieved a
Distinction in his Masters having studied at UAL based in Camberwell.
Tong Wu is inspired by Greek Mythological characters combined with
contemporary culture and is interested in “cuteness combined with evil”. He
grew up in China and in his works he claims you can find lots of shadows. His
works are colourful and figurative yet the subject matter is abstract in many
ways and only thinly pertaining to reality. He loves the use of colour and
details including plant and tree life and animals tell a story in his work. He is
a fan of Douanier Rousseau who apparently never visited Africa or any
jungles yet featured them in his works. His Chinese Zodiac animal of the year
he was born in is the rabbit. In “Where is The Pleasure Class?” oil on canvas
2023 120 x 140cm we see the rabbit being feisty and aggressive at the same
time as appearing sweet and “cuddly”. The rabbit in the picture wants to
destroy the wedding cake showing Tong Wu’s interest in the fact that the
“neighbourly communist wants to destroy the stability of society”. The tigers
in his paintings represent something he regards as “unreal”. Tong has also
got an interested in Damien Hirst and one of his several paintings at the show
reflects this showing a dinosaur as the main theme which appears to be
“boxed in”.
Tong Wu is very fond of the old masters and visits the National Gallery at
least once a fortnight and over the years he says he has developed a more
colourful palette. The Greek mythological influence has been with Tong Wu
for many years and Medusa and Perseus feature in his works. He is
interested in the effect that good and evil have on everyday people and
events and how legendary icons have been featured in this effect. He agrees
that the pictures have something of a quality of a “too good to be true”

theme and that they have the “style of Eden”. He spends much time
preparing the layout and essence of his works using an electronic device such
as a tablet and also using art paper and a variety of mediums to sketch and
draw up his ideas before starting to paint.
Try to see his work and the other works in this group show if you can before
the show closes. And ENJOY.

Penny Nair Price