Meet Xuecong Wang | Multi-media Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Xuecong Wang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Xuecong, how do you think about risk?
Risk is inherent in my artistic practice and personal journey. My primary medium, watercolor, embodies risk in its very nature—it’s irreversible. Once the pigment touches the paper, it cannot be undone or easily corrected. Each brushstroke represents a decision that becomes permanent, a commitment that cannot be withdrawn. This aspect of watercolor has taught me to embrace uncertainty rather than fear it.

Regarding risk in my life, moving from my small hometown in China to New York City as a young artist was perhaps my most significant risk. Leaving behind family, familiar surroundings, and cultural comfort to pursue art in a foreign country meant stepping into profound uncertainty. This transition placed me at the intersection of cultures, languages, and artistic traditions—a space that feels both precarious and fertile with possibility.

I believe that without risk, art becomes merely decorative or technical—it lacks the resonance that comes from authentic expression. The collision between myself and my environment, between Eastern and Western artistic traditions, between control and uncertainty—these tensions require a willingness to inhabit uncomfortable spaces.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What truly sets my work apart is my approach to translating fleeting moments into visual poetry that exists on a spectrum between realism and surrealism, which varies according to my intuition when creating the piece. It’s an artwork derived from physical reality, modified by subconsciousness, and presented in a mixture of memory and creativity. This way of working is exciting: the world around me serves as a constant source of inspiration and there’s always new moments to be presented.

I’m still at the early stages of my artistic career, learning and adapting to the art scene as I am completing BFA program. Along the way, I’ve had to overcome significant challenges, including questioning whether art was a viable career choice and a tendency to create heavily researched pieces intended as profound social commentary rather than following what genuinely moved me. I’ve since learned to value sincerity over intellectualization, allowing myself to create work about small moments of wonder without needing to justify their importance – a shift that has been crucial to finding my authentic voice as a young artist still exploring and defining my place in the art world.

I want my art to create a pause in our accelerated lives – a moment for viewers to reconsider their relationship with reality, perception, and memory. In our visually oversaturated world, my work invites people to slow down and appreciate the subtle, often overlooked aspects of existence. My art doesn’t attempt to provide answers but instead creates a space where people might recognize the beauty in their own subjective experience of reality, perhaps finding comfort in our shared human condition of interpreting the world through unique personal lenses.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Honestly, a week might be too short for someone to experience all aspects of NYC. Besides visiting the classic NYC highlights that are usually crowded with tourists, I would take my friend to the quieter spots of the city, which I consider my healing sanctuaries.

First, my favorite park in NYC is actually Green-Wood Cemetery. It’s an unusually quiet place in the city and a great spot for bird-watching. Sometimes when I’m feeling suffocated by the noise in the city, I go there and take a nap under the trees.

Williamsburg is also a good place to hang out if you want something more vibrant. There are many interesting small shops and excellent restaurants on Bedford Ave. I enjoy taking a ferry to Williamsburg because it provides essentially a free tour of New York’s skyline. Standing on the shore looking across at Manhattan, I often stand in awe of the grandeur of NYC.

Lastly, The Met Cloisters in upper Manhattan is a serene place to visit in the summer. I enjoy sitting on a bench there, shaded by giant trees, and watching the Hudson River flow by.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to especially thank my parents for being there from the beginning and offering emotional support even when we are so far apart. They are THE reason that I kept making art even when life was bleak. No matter how discouraged I was, they would always be there to reassure me and proudly claim that I am their “artist-daughter.”
Also, I want to say “thank you” to my art instructors in college. It was an honor for me to be guided by their wonderful minds and be inspired by their diverse art practices.

Website: https://xuecong.art/

Instagram: @xc_wang.art