"When I read the novel Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by English writer Lewis Carroll, I was fascinated. In the story, Alice wonders what the world is like behind the reflected scene on a mirror surface. To her surprise, she is able to pass through this mirror to experience an alternate world. The story is regarded as “literary nonsense” by some people, but makes a lot of sense to me. When I was a teenager, I always wanted to see the world. Not until I was 33 years old did I make the long trek from China to North America to explore my “wonderland.” Although I thought I was psychologically ready for a new move, what I have experienced in North America was a lot of cultural shock: different language, different tradition, different value system, and so on. I was confused and annoyed for some time at first. Then, I started to embrace my confusion and use it as the inspiration for my paintings. Frankly speaking, even though I have been here for thirteen years, I'm still experiencing difficulties in perceiving the whole picture of the new culture, as if there were a piece of glass between the world and me. In my 'Reflection' painting series, I use newly made friends here as subjects and the glass window as a metaphor to reflect my fragmented impression of this new culture, which is sometimes clear and sometimes blurry. The fragmented images look surreal, just like Alice’s experience in Wonderland. Likewise, I have created a new 'wonderland' where I can wander, learn and grow." -Yeqiang Wang
