Artwork Description

Title: Messager No.10
Artist: Wang Jianwei
Date: 2015
Medium: Oil on canvas (triptych)
Dimensions: Each panel: 78.7 x 57.9 in (200 x 147 cm)
Overall Dimensions: 78.7 x 173.1 in (200 x 439.5 cm)

Artwork Identification 
Messager No.10 is a commanding triptych by Wang Jianwei, one of the most conceptually rigorous voices in contemporary Chinese art. Executed in oil on canvas and spanning an immense 4.4 meters in width, the work demonstrates the artist’s signature synthesis of painterly expression and philosophical inquiry. Each of the three vertical panels presents an autonomous yet interconnected visual field, suggestive of narrative rupture, encoded transmission, and fragmented memory—recurring themes in Wang’s larger artistic lexicon.

Artistic Style and Influences
Although Wang Jianwei is internationally recognized for his work in installation, performance, and time-based media, Messager No.10 illustrates his parallel commitment to the painted surface as a field of critical thought. His brushwork is gestural yet exacting, combining abstraction with oblique figuration. The aesthetic recalls aspects of the post-Conceptual and Neo-Expressionist traditions, but it is unmistakably informed by his personal engagement with China's shifting cultural identity. The layered spatial logic of the triptych format evokes the nonlinear syntax of theater and film—mediums integral to Wang's broader practice.

Historical Context
Messager No.10 belongs to a cycle of works created during a mature phase in Wang’s career, when his explorations in painting intersected meaningfully with his theories on the “grey system”—a mode of thought preoccupied with uncertain data and incomplete systems. These ideas emerged from his early training during and after the Cultural Revolution, as well as his exposure to Western avant-garde currents during the 1985 New Wave movement. The Messager series may be viewed as a meditation on the opacity of communication in contemporary society—whether political, institutional, or interpersonal.

Provenance and Authenticity
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

Condition and Conservation
The painting is in excellent condition. All three canvases are taut, clean, and stable on their stretchers. The surface is free of cracking, lifting, or discoloration.

Artistic Significance
Messager No.10 stands as a testament to Wang Jianwei’s enduring engagement with the mechanics of meaning-making. It is a philosophical painting as much as it is a visual object—its tripartite form evoking simultaneity, discontinuity, and multiplicity. Collectors and institutions alike will recognize in this work not only the aesthetic sophistication of Wang’s painterly practice but also the intellectual depth that characterizes his larger interdisciplinary oeuvre. As such, Messager No.10 offers both cultural weight and market distinction, securing its place within the evolving narrative of global contemporary art.