One artwork. One line. No way back.

At 11:00 am on July 24, the interview with artist Xiyao Wang took place at Pièce Unique, the Parisian exhibition space of the renowned Italian gallery Massimo De Carlo, nestled in the city's 3rd arrondissement. Established in 1987, this international gallery boasts spaces in Milan, London, Hong Kong and Paris. Yet its Paris branch, Pièce Unique, is particularly unique: spanning only a few square meters, for each exhibition, only a single artwork is displayed, which is replaced every two weeks.

Hearing that filming was about to begin, Wang quickly adjusted her hair. Her signature three buns were arranged sequentially at the back of her head, reminiscent of dinosaur fins. Rummaging through her luggage, she clipped a single yellow earring onto her right ear, inscribed with the words "Busy Being Cute". "I bought it on Taobao," she said with a smile. She wore the blue long skirt from her opening day, which had evidently become her "battle robe" for her solo exhibition in Paris.

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Wang's current exhibition features the third and fourth works from her Il Faraone Sommerso (The Sunken Pharaoh) series. Completed in 2024, the entire series consists of only four pieces. She believes this body of work was simply waiting for the right space. "This space exhibits only one piece, so all attention and focus are directed entirely at this single painting. I feel this painting is worth it; it must be good enough, so when only one piece is shown, its power is strong enough."

The title Il Faraone Sommerso originates from the Italian opera of the same name, which she repeatedly listened to during creation. Compared to her previous works, while this series continues her artistic language established in 2023—comprising charcoal sticks and oil sticks—its composition, rhythm, and spatial relations have undergone noticeable changes. Previously, she favored filling backgrounds with colorful acrylics to establish the spatial depth of the canvas; in recent years, however, she has continuously practiced subtraction. She describes this shift as "cutting off my own right hand." Since color was her forte, she instead voluntarily abandoned it, turning toward the black-and-white world she once found less alluring. Charcoal sticks thus became her primary medium, and pictorial space no longer relied on blocks of color, but entirely on lines.

"Lines can generate speed, space, emotion, sound, and temperature—anything at all. A single line is like magic: that is what I find so fascinating about lines."

While many abstract artists discuss abstract language itself, Wang aspires to shape a perceivable space beyond lines and abstraction. She continually engages charcoal sticks and oil sticks in a dialogue. Initially, the two media served primary and auxiliary roles; today, they jointly participate in the canvas's structure, conversing with each other without primary or secondary hierarchies. Painting, she says, is a lifelong endeavor. New materials, new problems, and new relations will constantly emerge. What matters is whether an artist can remain in the studio for decades, maintaining curiosity toward these subtle shifts.