ABN AMRO Bank N : Evelyn Taocheng Wang scoops ABN AMRO Art Award

Evelyn Taocheng Wang has won the ninth ABN AMRO Art Award. In March 2020, an exhibition of her work - included in the award - will open at the Hermitage Amsterdam, and in Circl.ART, ABN AMRO's art project space in Amsterdam's financial district.

Today, 16 October 2019, the jury of the ninth ABN AMRO Art Award has granted this year's award to Evelyn Taocheng Wang - opting for an artist whose mysterious and seductive work uniquely refers to issues of gender, power structures and identity - and the degree to which identity is culturally determined.

The jury was moved by the way in which Wang associatively links the autobiographical with the mythical, fairy tales, literature, history and art history. Her drawings, videos, performances and installations draw from a classically traditional Chinese style combined with a more conceptualist approach, and take as a point of departure her personal history, including her acquaintance and experience with Western culture.

While creating stories that blur the distinction between fiction and reality, acts of transformation into imaginary characters permeate her work. But ultimately, it is Wang's virtuosity of style and her strong sense of combining various materials and objects that the jury feels lure the viewer into that rich and ambiguous world. In her drawings, notable for their traditional Chinese composition, she conjures up apparently anecdotal scenes. Those who look longer often discover dark, suggestive and complex situations, to which Wang frequently provides highly poetic commentary. This results in stratified images, seductive and confusing, confronting the viewer with their own desires and discomfort.

Encouraging talent

The ABN AMRO Art Award is intended to boost talent in the Netherlands, with quality and singularity the principal criteria for selection. Evelyn Taocheng Wang is a talented artist who has been consistently convincing in major exhibitions within the country and abroad. Her oeuvre is rich and sharp-edged, portraying dilemmas of the contemporary moment in original and intriguing ways.