Renowned Critiques
"Wu Yi possesses a profound and expansive style, blending the old with the new, representing a pinnacle of the rise of Chinese painting."
—Liu Haisu (Art Master, Wu Yi's mentor, former president of Nanjing Academy of Arts)
From the inscription of "Wu Yi's Paintings" in 1992.
"Wu Yi melts his aspirations, experiences, and childlike feelings into his brushstrokes, and expresses them beyond the brush. The lines are like the strings of a musical instrument, vibrating with magnificent melodies and the poetic sentiments of the countryside."
—Liu Haisu (Art Master, Wu Yi's mentor, former president of Nanjing Academy of Arts)
From Liu Haisu's commentary on "Mang Kunlun"
"Of the thousands of disciples of Haiweng, only Wu Yi truly inherited his spirit."
—Ke Wenhui (former secretary to Liu Haisu, senior art critic)
From an art-themed interview conducted by The Paper, 2026.
"The word 'genuine' best describes Wu Yi as a person, and his artistic creations are full of genuineness and emotion. Wu Yi is well-versed in the principles and laws of art, drawing inspiration from art from ancient and modern times, both Chinese and foreign, to express his inner feelings."
—Shao Dazhen (Professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Honorary Director of the Theoretical Committee of the China Artists Association)
From the preface to "Wu Yi's Paintings"
"Wu Yi is a first-rate painter in China today. His paintings possess a spiritual capacity that is hard for others to match. They are natural and sincere, containing a lifetime of thoughts and emotions, which is extremely rare in today's impetuous art world."
—Li Xianting (founder of contemporary Chinese art, renowned art critic)
Excerpted from the editor's note of the 1982 column "On the Spirit and Form" in the magazine "Fine Arts," and from a 2026 interview transcript published by The Paper.
"In this era, only Wu Yi is qualified to represent the finest aspects of Chinese culture to the world—grand, solemn, and connected with the ancient spirit."
—Chen Danqing (artist, writer)
From public interviews and comments
"Teacher Wu pursues the true appearance of mountains and rivers, that is, their essence and soul. He has a great spirit. If Shi Tao were alive, he would be surprised."
—Chen Danqing (artist, writer)
From public interviews and comments
"Wu Yi is a 'departure' during the most bustling period of the Chinese art scene—he did not isolate himself overseas, but instead embarked on a solitary journey with a courageous attitude."
—Wang Luxiang (Cultural scholar, professor at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University)
From cultural interviews and academic reviews
"Wu Yi integrates traditional Chinese philosophical thought into his creations, pioneering the concept of 'image-based thinking.' His landscape paintings may seem to lack fixed rules, but they are full of rhythm and cadence. At the same time, he combines the essence of Chinese and Western art, with his paintings permeated by the color and spatial awareness found in Western paintings." A "detached figure" of his time—he did not isolate himself overseas, but rather walked the path of truth with a courageous and solitary spirit.
—Liu Xilin (Deputy Director of the Theoretical Committee of the China Artists Association, Researcher at the National Art Museum of China)
From the novel "The Passionate Love of 'Eastern Dawn'"
"Wu Yi lives in an era swept by Western trends, yet he has uniquely cultivated a local image-based thinking system, clearly distinguishing between the two major aesthetic systems of China and the West. He reconstructs the modern path of ink painting with the cultural belief of 'the East is white,' making him a rare pioneer who combines creation and theory."
—Liu Xilin (Deputy Director of the Theoretical Committee of the China Artists Association, Researcher at the National Art Museum of China)
China Culture Daily, July 16, 2009
"Having spent nearly 40 years overseas, what is most commendable is that he has always maintained a strong sense of mission and cultural confidence, and has been committed to promoting the excellent traditional Chinese culture and striving to explore the path of modern transformation of contemporary Chinese painting."
—Yi E (Director of the Academic Department of the National Art Museum of China)
Excerpt from a speech at the 2022 Beijing Academy of Painting exhibition and symposium on "Taking the Spirit as Image".
"Wu Yi's achievements have three irreplaceable values: First, in terms of brushwork, he continued the bold and unrestrained style of Mr. Hai Su, creating a 'wild and untamed' atmosphere; second, in terms of theory, he provided important insights for the modern transformation of Chinese painting with 'image thinking' and 'the common origin of color and ink'; third, as a cultural guardian, he spread the traditions of Chinese culture overseas. He proved that: the most Chinese is also the most modern, the most deeply rooted in tradition, and the most courageous in facing the future."
—Liu Chun (Vice Dean of the School of Fine Arts, Nanjing University of the Arts)
From the curatorial preface to the Wu Yi Grand Exhibition at the Jinling Art Museum, 2018.
「吳毅筆墨博取萬象，思維縱橫多維。理論上開創性提出象思維、色墨同源，為 中國畫現代轉型提供完整本土路徑；創作接續劉海粟雄渾文脈，兼具宇宙格局， 是海外傳播中華文脈最重要的守望者。」
—Liu Chunjie (Director and Curator of Jinling Art Museum)
From the curatorial preface to the Wu Yi Grand Exhibition at the Jinling Art Museum, 2018.
"Wu Yi's creations are not simply a compromise between East and West, but a fusion and coexistence of the spirits of two civilizations. They cannot be simply divided into Eastern or Western attributes. He uses imagery to connect the inner spirits of the two, providing a brand-new paradigm for contemporary ink painting in the world."