Encountering Vinci Weng’s works, immaculately presented on the gallery wall, immediately calls to mind three seminal movements in Western art — Naturalism, Impressionism, and Surrealism. This affinity stems from the artist’s solid grounding in both traditional painting and contemporary practice, enabling the creation of monumental photographic works. His series Modern Garden of Joys demonstrates a finely judged interplay of illusion and reality, stillness and motion — each image meticulously structured, free of any looseness or neglect.

The relationship between the real and the illusory recalls Vincent van Gogh’s assertion: “I want to paint what cannot be seen with the eye — the inner essence of things.” For Van Gogh, nature’s vitality was indivisible from the world’s wholeness, which he sought to express beyond mere surface depiction. Vinci extends this pursuit into the realm of digital image-making. With a discerning eye, he isolates visual motifs from reality, freezes them in an instant, then fragments, repositions, and reimagines them within a digitally constructed space. The resulting images integrate the real and the unreal with such precision that their fabricated nature is almost imperceptible.

What distinguishes Vinci’s work is his method of constructing virtual landscapes. Whether towns, rural vistas, or open fields, his settings are luminous, crystalline, and suffused with tranquility. Scenic elements sourced from diverse locations are recomposed within a flattened pictorial space, free from the constraints of traditional perspective. Yet an echo of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s refined Naturalism persists, recalling the French painter’s lifelong quest for fleeting moments of inspiration.

Vinci’s practice, however, is global rather than local. By travelling widely, he absorbs the cultural and visual essence of disparate places, later reassembling these impressions into utopian visions. His images invite viewers to inhabit an idealised world, one in which the breeze seems palpable, the air freshly scented, and the atmosphere imbued with childlike wonder. The pervasive joy in these compositions reflects the artist’s own optimism. Recurring motifs, such as balloons drifting through open skies, convey lightness and celebration. In contrast to René Magritte’s melancholic figures descending from above, Vinci’s balloons are emblems of unalloyed joy, evoking the possibility of happiness within the confines of time and space. The works thus elicit reflection on life’s meaning and affirm the enduring human desire for hope and vitality.

Vinci’s mastery of digital composition situates his art beyond the reach of purely traditional techniques. His trajectory suggests that he will continue to transcend established frameworks, offering works of distinctive originality and refinement. In doing so, he is poised to secure a significant place within the international arena of contemporary photographic art.

Displacing Realities: Non-Linear Visions of Stillness and Motion | text by Dr. Mei-O Weng
Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Chinese Culture University PhD in Art History, University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), France