TRANSBOUNDARY AND BLENDING: A CASE STUDY OF SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY CHINESE WATERCOLOR PAINTING
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Abstract
Contemporary Chinese watercolor painting has evolved into a transboundary artistic form that reflects the intersection of traditional Chinese aesthetics and global visual languages. Amid rapid modernization and globalization, these artworks increasingly serve as mediums for expressing cultural hybridity, shifting identities, and socio-political narratives. Semiotics provides a critical framework for understanding how such paintings communicate meaning through visual signs, composition, and metaphor. This study investigates three dimensions: (1) how contemporary Chinese watercolor artists construct a transboundary visual language through the integration of traditional Chinese symbols and global formal techniques; (2) how watercolor paintings reflect and critique evolving socio-political themes such as labor, migration, and generational change; and (3) how ambiguity, symbolic opposition, and polysemy are used to engage viewers in open-ended cultural reflection on identity and continuity. Employing a qualitative semiotic approach grounded in the theories of Barthes and Peirce, this research analyzes five representative watercolor works by contemporary Chinese artists. Each painting was examined through visual analysis of composition, color schemes, symbolic imagery, and metaphor. The study interprets both denotative and connotative meanings and identifies recurring thematic oppositions across the artworks. Results: The findings reveal that contemporary Chinese watercolor artists skillfully fuse traditional techniques with Western formal strategies, using symbolism and metaphor to address themes of labor, migration, identity, and modernity. Visual oppositions—such as softness versus strength, or nature versus machine—reflect deeper cultural negotiations. These artworks operate as polysemous texts that invite multiple interpretations, positioning watercolor painting as a medium of cultural commentary in a globalized China.
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