Z.Z. Wei

"Raven"  oil on canvas  48" x 36"

"Coastal Retreat"  oil on canvas  48" x 36"

Ocean Ahead"  oil on canvas  40" x 30"

"Awaiting Arrivals"  oil on canvas  60" x 40"

"Approaching Storm"  oil on canvas  36" x 48"

Z. Z. Wei came to the pacific northwest of the U.S. from China when he was in his thirties. The landscape he found here so enthralled him that he's been painting it ever since. These are not landscapes based solely on observation. They are narratives, about nature, memory and yes, nostalgia. His entire approach to painting had clearly been defined before he found the subject matter that would constitute his life's work. There's more than a hint of the early twentieth century in it, especially the graphic stylization that vaguely echo American artists like Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood. So perhaps it's not surprising that he fell in love with the American west. The nostalgia might strike some as sentimental, but the emotion is real. The nostalgia conveyed is not for some idealized American past, but rather a more complex brew of love for a landscape by someone who chooses to immerse themselves in it but can never be completely of it. It is the nostalgia of someone who is and always will be very far from home, by choice. While the rewards of a new life in a new place may make the pangs of homesickness bearable, the homesickness nonetheless may linger. Now if all that sounds to you like a load of romantic drivel I suspect you won't much care for these paintings. All I can say to that is, your loss.
There's not a whole lot of work to see on the artist's website: zzweiart.com
Instead take the time to look through his work at Patricia Rovzar Gallery and at Attic Gallery