Unadorned Expressions:
The Spiritual World of Zhao Wenliang
Although the story of the “No Name Group” occupies only one chapter in the long course of Zhao Wenliang’s life (1937–2019), the repeated retelling of this episode has, to some extent, overshadowed the broader story of his lifelong pursuit of artistic truth. Zhao Wenliang developed an interest in painting at a young age under the influence of his elder sister. In 1953, he made the decision to devote himself to learning art, beginning a long and difficult path as a self-taught painter. Between 1968 and 1974, a number of young people came to seek his guidance, gradually forming an active painting circle in the suburbs of Beijing known as the “Yuyuantan School of Painting.” In 1979, the group held its first public exhibition at Beihai Park under the name “No Name Group.” With its “unusual subjects, unconventional materials, and distinctive styles of painting,” the exhibition attracted widespread attention. The exhibition’s preface declared a clear stance: it opposed fixed artistic formulas, rejected political illustration and narration, and imitation of photographs, approaches considered external to painting itself. Instead, it proposed that painting should be a natural outpouring of emotion, something akin to a “cardiogram of the heart.”
This artistic philosophy held that the authentic life experiences and emotions of ordinary people, including their differences, conflicts, hardships, and frustrations, could free art from lifeless formulas and become the true driving force of artistic creation. Such a position stood in sharp contrast to the prevailing standards in Chinese artistic practice from the 1940s through the late 1970s, which emphasized the expression of the spirit of the age and the representation of social reality. Across the thousands of works Zhao produced throughout his life, particularly those created between the 1960s and the 1980s, one finds a blending of nineteenth-century Symbolism with lyrical modes of expression. Rather than depicting nature and life as they appear, Zhao reorganized and reconstructed them according to his own will, emotions, and reflections, building an artistic world that resonated deeply with his inner life.
This exhibition brings together nearly 120 works created between 1956 and 2015, spanning the entirety of Zhao Wenliang’s artistic career. The exhibition title, Unadorned Expressions, does not refer to a direct depiction of external reality or an illustration of political ideas. In a cultural context where personal emotions were often avoided and artistic expression was narrowly tied to political visions, Zhao found in early modernist art of the nineteenth century a point of departure for emotional expression. From this, he developed a deeply personal and compelling artistic language. His paintings became his own way of speaking plainly from the heart.
Combining symbolic and lyrical modes of expression, Zhao used images drawn from nature and everyday life to create connections between visible forms and invisible realms of human feeling. In his works, familiar scenes like roads leading to harbors, mist-filled night streets, lotus ponds, solitary figures in forests, or a mother lying on a sickbed, take on symbolic significance. They gesture toward unseen realities: the pursuit of freedom, reflections on the hardships of life, and a quiet awareness of time’s passing. Through symbolism and associative imagery, these visual forms acquire an unusual freedom, allowing the artist’s subjectivity to emerge clearly and directly engage the viewer. Symbolic suggestion imbues visible forms with poetic resonance and beauty, while reflections on human existence remain quietly embedded within compositions that are at once structurally balanced and spiritually charged. This distinctive approach sets Zhao Wenliang apart not only from other members of the No Name Group, but also from many artists who, in the intellectual climate of the 1970s, began experimenting primarily with formal innovation.
Symbolic expression allowed Zhao to give form to what cannot ordinarily be seen. In his paintings, emotion, belief, ideals, and moral aspiration become something tangible. Zhao placed great importance on intellectual depth and artistic integrity, regarding his works as vessels for lyrical reflection and personal expression.
He often wrote short or lengthy notes on the backs of canvases, boards, and sheets of paper. These texts record the circumstances of creation, the people and events surrounding a work, and the artist’s inner emotional state. Together, they form a bridge into Zhao Wenliang’s spiritual world. Zhao lived and grew up within a historical environment shaped by utopian ideals and radical modernization. Yet throughout his life he remained deeply attentive to inner moral cultivation, seeking to integrate the individual self with nature and with art. This spiritual orientation, bearing certain pre-modern characteristics, stood in constant tension with the realities of his time. Through these paintings and writings, we are able to witness how Zhao Wenliang, drawing upon personal experience and persistent artistic exploration, created a body of work whose significance transcends its historical moment.