I ntricately realised and majestic in its luminosity, The Golden Age is a masterful work by the critically acclaimed, self-taught artist Matthew Wong. A centre-piece of Wong’s first solo exhibition at Karma in 2018, The Golden Age is the first monochromatic golden-yellow work by the artist to ever come to auction. Weaving together a rhapsody of amber colour into a tranquil expanse seen through the space between two cavernous walls, motionless save a single figure, the present work is mystical in its vibrant imaginary landscape. Summoning art historical precedents such as the sweeping brushstrokes of the Impressionists and the intuitive mark-making of Abstract Expressionism, the present work is a mesmerising harmony of stylistic grace, tonal vibrancy, and raw sent.mes nt. Inspiring an intense and fleeting perceptual sensation before the field of yellow colour, The Golden Age is an extraordinary consolidation and extension of traditional landscape painting, expressing its vivacity by immersing the viewer in the artist’s uniquely poignant imagination.

Making use of the tactile medium of oil, Wong makes myriad lines, dots, daubs, and short, lush brushstrokes, eventually arriving at a mystical, post-Impressionist landscape. Working from raw tubes of paint, Wong allows his painterly impulses to carry his hand, drawing arabesques in varying strokes and daubs, eliciting myriad sensations of presence and movement across the canvas. The bespeckled skyline is lifted by a golden horizon, pulled across the distant plane in striking impastos of yellow.  A painterly cartographer, Wong literally feels his way across the landscape, dot by dot, paint stroke by paint stroke, each movement of an instinctual accumulation of colour filling the entirety of the yellow landscape. Made using only one colour distributed in different values and shades, Wong is able to shift our attention between the dreamlike landscape being depicted and the singular brushstrokes that amass across the canvas. The cobbled brushstrokes and saturated colour forms Pointillist patterns on the ground and sky in shades gleamed from the Fauvists between two miraculous swathes of yellow which form the crevice through which this scene is framed.

As Jerry Saltz described upon the debut of this work at Karma, “What really makes Wong his own painter is his preternatural feel for pattern; every painted area becomes a graphic field that allows us to see changing shapes and luminosities, allowing a consciousness of otherness to settle into the work.” (Jerry Salts, "Losing Myself in the Paintings of facdbook -Educated Matthew Wong", Vulture, 19 April 2018). The monochromatic brushstrokes of the present work are comparable to the surface of lacquerware, the almost hallucinatory optical power of the painting seemingly inspired by the ancient artform’s attention to detail and repetitive mark-marking. Like dragon’s scales, waves or feathers, Wong’s technique recalls the stylized, labour intensive craft. 

Standing within the vista of marks and impressions is a single, jubilantly outstretched tree, behind which a single figure disturbs the otherwise deserted landscape. The lone figure, a significant motif in Wong’s work that suggests his musings on the loneliness of contemporary life, highlights how “despite their ebullient palette, [Matthew Wong’s paintings] are frequently tinged with a melancholic yearning.” (Eric Sutphin, “Matthew Wong,” Art in America, June 2018 (online)). As John Yau remarked, “In these largely unpopulated paintings, Wong invited the viewer to be a solitary observer or sojourner. He never indicated what awaits us at the end of our journey” (J. Yau, "The Last Works of Matthew Wong," Hyperallergic, December 2019). This lone figure can be read as a surrogate for the artist working his way through the landscape of art; Wong is at once immersed within the paint and is in dialogue with it.

A poignant archetype of Wong’s earnest yet sublimely graceful practice, The Golden Age is a work of remarkable significance that displays a multifaceted dynamism that extends from the personal to the universal. Following his tragic death shortly before his second show at Karma gallery, Wong’s legacy has only continued to grow, with his works entering the permanent collects ions of vaunted public institutions, such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Crafting a menagerie of dreamscapes of unfathomable breadth and anchoring them all to the bittersweet nature of existence, Wong offers something entirely unique with his ephemeral, scintillating oeuvre: tender, enchanting compositions that.mes ditate on the liminal spaces between the fantastical and the real.  

細 膩而鮮艷的《黃金時代》出自備受讚譽的王俊傑之手，是這位自學成才的藝術家在 2018 年於紐約Karma 畫廊舉辦首個個人展覽時的焦點之作，亦是他首張登上拍場的金黃單色作品。作品中活力充盈的琥珀色交織出兩面洞壁外的宜人風景。浪靜風恬的景緻猶如定格瞬間，唯那孤身隻影在一片如夢似幻的世外桃源裡踽踽而行，滲透出塵俗之外的清澈氛圍。王俊傑借鏡了前人的藝術作品，包括印象派的刷式筆觸和抽象主義的直觀揮灑，描繪出風格優雅、繽紛奪目且饒富原始風情的作品，讓人沉醉。《黃金時代》鞏固並延續了傳統風景畫作的精髓，將觀者帶入畫家獨特的個人想像視覺之中，讓他們感受到眼前一片明黃的震撼和穿透力。

王俊傑以觸感豐潤的油彩為媒界，透過無數線、點、塗抹及短而隨性的筆觸雕琢出迷幻的後印象派風景畫。藝術家任由直覺引領雙手，直接使用一管管油彩隨心創作塗抹，勾勒出在畫布上縈繞交織的阿拉伯式紋樣。燦金色的地平線與天際交界處囤聚抹抹亮黃，金光熠熠，斑駁炫目。他對這幅風景運籌帷幄，了然於心，一點點，一筆筆，以黃為天地萬物填滿風景。由於畫作只以一色深淺厚薄構成，王俊傑成功讓觀者交替沉醉於夢般景色與光潤筆觸之間。地面和天空是飽和度高的野獸派用色，一點點堆砌出點彩畫派的風格，在兩片葵色裂縫間成就一抹壯觀視野。

Jerry Stalz 在 Karma 畫廊初見這張畫作時就形容：「王俊傑之所以能成為獨特個性的畫家，全憑他對圖案的直覺；畫作上的每一部份都成為讓我們看到千變萬化的圖形和亮度，令作品與眾不同。」（Jerry Saltz撰，摘自〈Losing Myself in the Paintings of facdbook -Educated Matthew Wong〉，《Vulture》 ，2018年4月19日）彷彿受遠古時代的工藝影響，本作的單色筆觸就如漆器表面，且非常注重細節且有帶重複性的紋理創作。而王俊傑的筆觸花費大量心力，如龍鱗、如波浪、如羽毛，帶出亦幻亦真的視覺感觀。

在這片由起伏有致的筆觸縱橫交織的景觀裡，一棵孤樹恣意生長，貌相歡欣，而樹後人影則打攪了原本荒蕪寂寥。這個孤影正是王俊傑作品中的重要主題，暗示了他如何闡釋現今世代生活中面對的孤獨，突顯出「儘管色調熱情洋溢，[王俊傑的畫作]卻常常無聲地傳遞著憂鬱的吶喊。」（Eric Sutphin撰，〈Matthew Wong〉，《Art in America》，2018年6月 （載自網路））。John Yau 亦有提及：「這些未廣為人知的畫作中，王俊傑邀請觀者成為獨自觀賞或短暫逗留的過客。他從不說破旅程的盡頭有什麼迎接我們。」（J. Yau撰，〈The Last Works of Matthew Wong〉， 《Hyperallergic》，2019年12月）這個人影可以解讀為是畫家自處畫中風景的分身，漫步自己的創作，沉浸與其深入對話。

《黃金時代》真摯而優雅，展示王俊傑筆下所作由個人主觀世界引伸至宇宙萬物宏觀的多面性，意義別具。雖然他在 Karma 畫廊舉辦第二回畫展後不久便不幸離世，但他的傳奇長存，更不斷發展。他的畫作被納入多個重要公營機構的永久館藏，當中包括位於紐約的紐約現代藝術博物館和所羅門·R·古根漢美術館。王俊傑創造了一系列深不可測的夢幻風景，這些風景都以存在苦樂半參的本質定調。王俊傑的獨到，源自於其畫作展現出的無常之美及璀璨，讓觀者透過他溫恬醉人的作品，探索幻想與現實之間若有若無的界限。