Sun Tzu’s Art of War

Wei Guangqing drew inspiration from Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644) woodblock illustrations of Sun Tzu’s Art of War, in which thirteen chapters and two additional portraits of Sun Wu and his disciple Sun Bin comprise a total of fifteen images. Wei highlights characters in bright colors, representative of his iconic Cultural Pop style, while juxtaposing the illustration against a dull grey chessboard background, in which the arrangements of the game pieces all result in a draw. Wei attracts further visual interest by applying varying thickness of paint on different color planes, creating an intricate relief effect.

Wei Guangqing’s Cultural Pop reexamines a classical text and reinterprets the value of traditional culture in a contemporary setting. In Wei’s Art of War, the composition is intelligently planned out and painting meticulously executed, in the fashion of a military exercise or a skillful game of chess. Ultimately, the viewer is invited to reflect on the ancient wisdom of the legendary Sun Tzu and find resonance in the strategy of their modern lives.