Impressed | Kelly Wang

Wang is a New York-based artist whose work examines and redefines Asian-American identity and considers the reality of being a diasporic artist. The exhibition reflects the ways history presses itself upon our lives to be seen, felt, and heard across cultures, generations, and national borders. Her work insists that cultural impressions, even when partial or subconscious, carry forward histories of migration, displacement, and resilience. This tension is reflected in her artistic methods, which build upon a process of impression and release to transmit elements of her sources while leaving others behind. These works consider the loss and opportunity created through diasporic inheritance, as well as art’s potential to construct new forms of transnational identity. 

Kelly Wang: Impressed is curated by Professors Daniel M. Greenberg and Dwight K. Lewis with students from “ARTH 1906: Curating in Museums and Galleries” in partnership with the Departments of Art, Art History, Philosophy, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Program in Asian-American Studies. The exhibition was made possible through a generous anonymous donation and the College of Liberal Arts Office of the Dean at the University of Minnesota.

Artist Biography
Kelly Wang (b. 1992) has been experimenting with calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting practices and techniques since 2010 while developing her own artistic practice.  She has lectured about Chinese art and Western abstract painting at CUNY Hunter College. A multidisciplinary artist, Wang combines contemporary and pre-modern materials integrating collage, mixed media, painting, sculpture, found objects, and installation. Her work explores the tension between dimensions as well as hard, defined edges and soft organic forms. Wang's unconventional, pioneering techniques push the boundaries of what "ink art" can be. Five of her works were acquired by Princeton University Art Museum, where in 2022 she had a solo exhibition entitled Between Heartlands: Kelly Wang. She has exhibited at the Asia Society Texas Center (2023), Houston, TX, and the China Institute of America (2024), New York, NY. Her work is held in the collections of the Asian Art Museum San Francisco, Smith College Museum of Art, Nelson Atkins Museum, Harvard Art Museums, and Washington and Lee University Art Museum.

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

The Quarter Gallery at the Regis Center for Art is accessible by U-Card only. For non U-Card holders, make an appointment to visit the gallery: Visitor Appointment Request Form.

Parking is available nearby on the street, at the 21st Avenue South ramp, 5th Street South lot, and 19th Avenue South ramp. Hourly or event rates may apply.

Image: Kelly Wang, No City 6 (In progress), 2025. Ink, mulberry paper, mineral pigment, iron powder, stainless steel fiber and acrylic on custom Dibond panel, 70 x 160 x 21 in. (177.8 x 406.4 x 53.3 cm). Courtesy the artist and Alisan Fine Arts, New York.