Xiao Wang, Slumber Under a Shade, 2021; Hand-Embellished, Signed, and Numbered Limited Edition Print in White Wood Frame

Xiao Wang combines dramatic, moody color palettes with a realist approach in figurative paintings that draw visual and conceptual inspiration from Romanticism, the Symbolist movement, and magical realism. Born in China and based in Brooklyn, he received a BFA from the Glasgow School of Art, and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. The artist has shown work internationally, in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy. Wang has also completed artist residencies at MASS MoCA, the Vermont Studio Center, Root Division, and Art Point.  Slumber Under A Shade is part of a recent series that loosely references The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, a satirical etching which expressed Francisco Goya’s concerns over the political atmosphere of his time. Wang’s work channels a similar feeling of anxiety, in a current era riddled by tension arising from rapid social and cultural shifts, environmental crises, and ideological uncertainties. In this painting, a hand arches over a