At the dawn of human civilization, art served as one of the earliest vessels of religious faith. Through paintings and sculptures, people depicted gods, celebrated sacred narratives, and created images for ritual worship. Over time, however, art gradually shifted its focus from the divine to the human. Religious symbols remained present, but they increasingly became a language for human emotions and perceptions of the world. Pure, unadorned works created solely “to portray the gods” have all but disappeared in modern times.
Meanwhile, artistic expression has undergone continuous transformation: from the realism of classical oil painting to the vibrant brushstrokes of Impressionism, the innovations of abstraction, and the multiplicity of today’s contemporary art. Yet the absence of divine portraiture within these modern idioms is striking. The lack of direct encounters between depictions of the sacred and contemporary modes of painting leaves an undeniable gap.
It is within this void that artist XuanWen Zhang has emerged. She boldly reintroduces the sacred into painting, employing an expressionist language to depict gods and spiritual figures. Her works are defined by a unique visual style, marked by thick layers of pigment and vigorous brushstrokes. Like the Impressionists, her intention is not to impose lofty interpretations, but to faithfully record what she sees and experiences. Her canvases capture fragments of human history, crystallizing religion as a cultural legacy and recording beauty in its purest form.
Zhang’s practice is also distinguished by her extravagant use of material—at times, a single brushstroke can consume an entire tube of paint. Up close, the pigments reveal an intentional lack of blending, each stroke retaining its independence. This creates a surface alive with tension, at once raw and refined, offering a beauty that feels both certain and elusive.
Her work can be understood within the lineage of Impressionism, as many of her canvases are painted on site during her visits to grottoes, temples, and Taoist sanctuaries. Yet unlike Western plein-air practice, her brushwork is infused with the spirit of Chinese calligraphy and freehand ink painting (大写意). This unique fusion allows her paintings to capture not only the visual impression of place but also its spiritual resonance.
Her works are also often described as possessing a spiritual aura. Some collectors even enshrine her paintings as sacred images, using them in spaces of worship. This rare intertwining of artistry and spirituality highlights both the cultural significance of her practice and the profound resonance it evokes among audiences and collectors alike.
On her canvases, the gods no longer remain as distant echoes of history but reappear as living presences in dialogue with contemporary viewers. Through this rare convergence of religion and contemporary art, Zhang invites us to reflect anew on a timeless question: what is the role of faith in art today?
