LANG CHENGWEN (b. 1945)
Lang Chengwen’s ink practice centers on a profound meditation: how vernacular architecture serves as a repository of cultural memory and collective identity. As former Vice-Director of the Hangzhou Painting Academy and student of legendary masters Li Keran and Lu Yanshao, he brings both institutional authority and deeply personal vision to his exploration of how built environments embody cultural continuity.
His hanging scrolls transform everyday architectural elements through supple brushwork that dissolves the conventional boundary between landscape and architectural portrait. Courtyards, garden walls, lattice windows, and weathered eaves emerge as vessels for memory and meaning, their poetic potential revealed through Lang’s distinctive technique. The effect is at once documentary and deeply personal, capturing both physical reality and emotional resonance.
This approach reflects Lang’s broader understanding of painting as cultural preservation. Working during an era of rapid urbanization in China, he has devoted his practice to ensuring that traditional architectural forms remain visible and valued. His works function as both artistic statements and cultural documents, preserving ways of building and living that continue to shape Chinese identity.
Selected for the 7th, 9th, and 10th National Art Exhibitions, his works now reside in public collections nationwide. Market response has been equally positive: Wind over the Cliff achieved RMB 437,000 (~US $62k) at China Guardian in 2019, signaling collector recognition of his distinctive ability to render the architectural intimate and the historical immediate.
83x83cm/32.7×32.7in
Ink and Color on Paper
1993
98.7x66cm/32.7×32.7in
Ink and Color on Paper
71x65cm/28×25.6in
Ink and Color on Paper
66.2×60.7cm/26.1×23.9in
Ink and Color on Paper
56.5×76.5cm/22.2×30.1in
Ink and Color on Paper
1998
70.5X102.3cm/27.8×40.3 in
Ink and Color on Paper
1998
83.5x111cm/32.9×43.7in
Ink and Color on Paper
1998
103.5x66cm/40.7x26in
Ink and Color on Paper
1998
65x65cm/25.6×25.6in
Ink and Color on Paper
1993
83x76cm/32.7×29.9in
Ink and Color on Paper
1998
