White Clouds Over Xiao and Xiang

Jian's "White Clouds Over Xiao and Xiang" is considered to be abstract art. Its abstract art because it refers to the real world, in this case, a landscape of China's hills, but does not duplicate it exactly. The location of the viewer in the picture gives them a bird's eye view of the landscape. The viewer is not restricted to one part of the scene, but rather can move about the setting. They can choose to explore the scenery by moving their eyes across the various paths or climb the mountain simply by looking at the work of art. The style of painting the author uses shows an accurate depiction of a landscape but it is considered abstract because the viewer can still tell that the painting is not an exact replication of the actual scene. The brushstrokes in Wang Jian's artwork and the texture of the actual painting exemplify the abstractness of his painting. The objects in the painting such as the mountains, the trees, the little village in the center, and the river have all been simplified in regards to the way they actually look in real life.
The author illustrates the objects in such a way that you can tell what they are suppose to correspond to yet you know they are only representations. Take the mountain in the painting for example. You can make out some of the brushstrokes on the side as well as the simplified characteristics of the mountain itself such as the shape and forestry. Actual mountains would have much more portrayal. Another example would be the river. It is drawn in such a way that you can easily distinugish that it is water even without all the reflecting and ripples that are normally associated with rivers. It has been cut down so that it is not representational but drawn in a way that the objects connection is still recognized. The sky is also another example of abstract form in an artwork. Usually skies have clouds and sometimes some animal life but in Jian's painting, there is neither of that. You can still distinguish that it is the sky