Wang Tiande (b.1960 in Shanghai) is a leading contemporary Chinese artist widely celebrated for his revolutionary practices of ink painting and unconventional takes on traditional Chinese art. A multitude of powerful and gestural brushstrokes of painted calligraphic characters compose a piece of Hanfu (the traditional clothing of the Han Chinese people) which symbolizes a shared Chinese history. On the left side of the composition, more Chinese characters are revealed in the forms of marks burned by cigarettes. It is the artist’s signature technique to use cigarettes or incense sticks to make burn marks on the outer surface of the layered rice paper and further create painted underlayer. Through this seemingly destructive art-making process, Wang Tiande deconstructs and recreates the practice of Chinese ink painting, questioning the relationship between the past and the present.

王天德（1960年出生于上海）是当代中国艺术界的领军人物，以其开创性的水墨画创作和对传统中国艺术的独特理解而广受赞誉。这幅作品笔触遒劲有力，挥洒自如，大量书法字符勾勒出象征着中国历史的汉服（汉族人民的传统服饰）衣袍形状。在作品的左侧，更多的汉字以烟灼留下的痕迹呈现。这是艺术家独到技法，他通过香烟或香烛在层叠的宣纸外表面留下烧灼的痕迹，进一步创造出绘制的底层。以这种看似破坏性的艺术手法，王天德对中国水墨画进行解构和重塑，向过去与现在的关系提出疑问。