W ithin Wang Xingwei’s works, Untitled (Three Nudes) features the largest group of nude figures to appear at auction to date. Those familiar with the traditional academic art training in China would immediately notice that the Wang derived his male and female models from two renowned paintings in the Chinese academic circles: Male Body (1981) by Yang Feiyun and Republic of China Women (1996-1999) by Li Tianpian. It is exceptionally significant for Wang to reference his fellow Chinese artists in Untitled (2002) when his corpus of works constantly quoted iconic Western imageries, especially those completed between 1995 and 2004. Driven by his obsession in emulating existing imageries, Wang combined the two paintings and conjured a sardonic composition. The strikingly apparent erotic implication perfectly exemplifies the artist’s wit undergirded by an acute artistic language developed over two decades.

In comparison to the artist’s earlier works, Untitled reveals Wang’s increasingly mature creative approach. By eliminating distracting ‘props’, Wang sets the scene within a dark minimalistic space, thus focusing on the three figures and the sculptural quality of their bare pale skin. Owing to the intensity of the viewer’s gaze, the nudes appear incongruous and alienated, moving away from the classical aesthetic highly regarded in academicism. “The notation of sex in academic figural paintings is evaded and absent,” said Wang. “But I have highlighted the sexual connotations while abiding by the academic style and technique.” Untitled serves as a criticism of the education system upheld by the Chinese art academies for their insistence on repetitive copying of classical models, subsequently restricting creative and experimental artistic approaches. Simultaneously, Wang points to the nature of art and culture and expose the ideological rifts and cultural mismatches in China, soon after its economic liberalization, engendered by the influx of international contemporary art.

From the 1990s, Wang began creating a series of works that drew extensively from Western art history. These works frequently referenced masters such as Gustave Courbet, Nicolas Poussin, Andy Warhol, and Joseph Beuys. Untitled’s provocative composition in its dimmed subtle tones distinctly different from the garish palette typically used by the artist, brings to mind Edouard Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass (1862-63) as well as the public controversy it sparked. The painting was partly being criticized for breaking away from the academic tradition by presenting unrefined brushwork and unfinished parts of the composition. However, it was the stark contrast between the female nudes and the fully dressed male figures that caused the uproar. The outdoor gathering scene seemed to refer to the rampant prostitution in the Bois de Boulogne at the Western outskirts of Paris, which was at the t.mes a taboo subject amongst elites.

Through blatant eroticism and imitation of the academic style, Wang not only confronted the rigid academicism that anchored in Chinese art academies but also reflected upon the Western avant-garde who pioneered innovation and evolution in artistic representation hundred years ago. Over a century later, his Untitled puts forward two bold questions for the viewers: Has the Chinese art scene become more open-minded? Has there been an improved level of acceptance and understanding of sex and nudity in art? It is worth mentioning that Yang Feiyun, whom Wang copied in the present work, painted his wife nude on their wedding night in 1988. Completely undressed, Yang’s wife stares boldly and directly at the viewers. The life-like portrayal was banned from exhibiting at the t.mes due to the conservatism of society. It was not until twenty-four years later that the painting was unveiled to the public in an auction in 2012.

As the renowned critic Phil Tinari commented, Wang confronts “a Chinese material and intellectual universe that was self-conscious of its relative deprivation” through aping precedents from Western art history and re-assembling iconographies from the East and West. (‘Wang Xingwei, Flash Art Online, 2015) Visually compelling, Untitled materialises the artist’s silent cry in his relentless journey of experimenting, pushing and subverting the boundaries of artistic vocabularies.

王 興偉的《無題（三個人體）》乃至今上拍的藝術家作品中集最多赤裸軀姿的油畫作品。熟悉或親歷中國藝術教育傳統訓練的觀者，無不馬上察覺畫中一男兩女源自中國學院派中家喻戶曉的兩幅名作，楊飛雲的《男人體》（1981年）以及李天翩的《民國女子》（1996-1999年）。對於鍾情引用西方圖像傳統貫穿其筆下作品、尤其是在1995至2004年間繪製的畫作的王興偉而言，於2002年創作了指涉中國藝術界同儕的本作，可謂意義甚具。他藉著自己沉迷對既有的圖像的模擬，將兩畫融合為一，構圖濃稠的曖昧色情蘊意不言而喻，體現出藝術家迄今二十多載的創作歷程中獨到的幽默且辛辣的藝術語彙。

別於王興偉更早年的作品，《無題（三個人體）》展示了他越臻成熟的創作手法。他簡化了場景，僅以畫中三人為關注焦點，在省略了分散注意力的道具擺設下，人物坦露的肌膚在昏暗濃縮的空間尤顯白皙如雕，並在高度的凝視下變得陌生且違和，脫離了古典的浪漫審美。「性在美院的人體繪畫中是缺席的，規避的。」王興偉說道：「我在沒有改變美院的形態和技法情況下，突顯了性的聯想。」藝術家透過本作作弄埋汰，諷刺中國藝術學院固守反覆描摹古典人物模特的教育系統，妨礙了藝術家的自主創意和實驗精神，並藉此指向了藝術和文化的本體問題，涉及到國際當代藝術進入開放不久的中國而出現的意識形態的衝突，與中國本土條件的錯位與不協調。論之，西方思潮及藝術的湧入影響舉足輕重。

王興偉在二十世紀九十年代起便製作了一系列與西方藝術史密不可分的作品，而當中頻密呈現古斯塔夫·庫爾貝、尼古拉·桑德、安迪·沃荷及約瑟夫·博伊斯等巨匠傑作的剪影。《無題（三個人體）》富衝擊性的構圖以及別於王興偉一貫艷俗的沉鬱的用色，不禁讓人聯想起歐洲印象派先驅馬奈遐邇聞名的《草地上的午餐》（1862-63年），以及其當時所引發的爭議。該畫作沒有試圖隱藏藝術家筆觸的寫意手法，除了與當時盛行的學院派傳統截然不同，畫中兩名裸女與衣裝整齊的兩名男子的強烈對比，亦似乎暗示了當時巴黎西郊布洛涅森林公園中賣淫活動的狓猖，觸碰了上流社會眾所周知的禁忌話題。

王興偉通過《無題（三個人體）》毫不修飾的意淫，以及對學院派代表作的模仿，映照上述西方藝壇早在百年前已試圖革新續而邁向前衛的開放思維，並通過這種方式公然挑釁抨擊中國藝群根深蒂固的學院流派枷鎖，甚至大膽地提出了疑問，試圖引發觀者思考，時隔逾一個世紀之多，中國藝壇風氣是否有所進步開明呢？對於性相關題材、裸露圖像等的接納和理解有所提升嗎？值得一提的是，王興偉仿摹的楊飛雲在1988年以新婚妻子為模特兒繪畫了一幅全裸油畫《靜物前的姑娘》。畫中嬌妻一絲不掛，正視觀者，繪聲繪色，栩栩如生。但鑑於當時社會風氣保守，裸露的疑慮讓作品無法展出，直到二十四年後的2012年，他的作品才通過一場拍賣從塵封中得以面世。

正如田霏宇所言，王興偉透過劣拙模仿及重新拼湊亞洲及西方藝術經典圖像，反思著中國當代藝術的價值體系，並以自嘲詼諧的模式，勇敢面對中國藝術發展依然落後西方的事實。（〈王興偉〉，《Flash Art Online》，2015年）而《無題（三個人體）》則是王興偉不斷試探、叛逆、擴展藝術語言界限的一個無聲但有形的吶喊。