Ai-Wen Wu Kratz

Website: https://www.aiwenwukratzartstudio.com

Country: USA

Ai-Wen Wu Kratz is originally from Hong Kong, where she had private lessons in watercolor paintings in her late teens. She received her art education mostly in the United States, where she had earned a Masters Degree in Painting and Printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan. She currently works and lives in the Washington, DC Metro Area. Wu-Kratz is from a family with six children. Her maternal uncles and aunts cherished and practiced calligraphy and Chinese ink paintings. Wu Zi-Fu, one of her uncles, was a noted calligrapher in the Guangdong Province, China. It is said that the government of People’s Republic of China does not allow to have his works exported out of China. In addition to the U.S., Wu-Kratz had one-person exhibitions in France, Germany, England, Egypt and Austria. In 2021, in a group exhibition at the Luigi Bellini Museum, Florence, Italy, Dr. Mara Ferloni, art critic, commented on works by Ai-Wen Wu-Kratz, as follows: In translation: ‘A fascinating language rich in meaningful forms with a dialectic indicating a style of maturity; an emotional lyricism which becomes a protagonist across a palpable rendering of forms. A scenic rendering full of joy, in which one is surrounded by a joy of colors which testify to a great creative sensitivity expressed in a language which preserves a fascinating poetry in its structural integrity.” In Wu-Kratz’s words, her works are in search of ‘Spirituality, intellectualism and aesthetics.’ She hopes her works bring joy, light and relief to her viewers.

Julie Reby Waas

Vasile Stefanoiu