Do Khang Wei’s East and West

The Akvarel Gallery opened an exposition by Do Khang Wei, a Chinese artist, teacher, and philosopher who has lived in Kyiv for a long time.

Actually, his ties with close and versatile Ukraine are exercised in all three directions: Do Khang Wei is a graduate of Kyiv’s Linguistic University, teaches at the Oriental Languages Chair, International Institute of Linguistics and Law, and attends lectures at the National Art Academy, trying, as he admits, to perceive the secrets of Western art. It seems that Western art is visualized by Do Khang Wei as something exotic — the way we see Oriental art. But in any case, this does not stop him. Akvarel’s exposition features drawings kept in the traditional Chinese style and experimental works in which the artist reaches the required level of expressiveness by merely juxtaposing colors and linking them by hieroglyphic inscriptions. Do Khang Wei’s supposedly Western and European prints are, in addition to everything else, a unique opportunity to look at this art, which seems all too familiar, from outside. Still, the Chinese part of the display seems far more charming: two or three color drawings on thin rice paper with a subtly nuanced individual interpretation of the subject. And his subjects date back not hundreds but thousands of years — almost an eternity as in A Small Bird, Flowers and a Tree, Cranes (A Time of Love), and Summer).