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Calligraphy art burns with inspiration
By Xu Wenwen |
March 20, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE characters are burned onto a black-and-white photo printed on flimsy Chinese rice paper, leaving a cream-colored outline but no ink mark. It's a piece of contemporary calligraphy art by innovative artist Wang Tiande.
Wang, a noted Shanghainese calligrapher, is dean and professor of the Art and Design Department of Fudan University. He is known for his avant-garde Chinese ink art, as well as his combination of calligraphy, installation and video.
An exhibition of Wang's calligraphy and installation is underway at Sanshang Art Gallery in Hangzhou.
The solo exhibition, titled "Solitude Hill" after a real hill and island on West Lake, features a series of calligraphy, paintings, an installation, a documentary and videos.
The installation, positioned at the entrance, features a wall with a horizontal strip of glass at eye level. Looking inside one sees a small pond, with dark water dyed by Chinese ink, several small nearby rockeries and birds nesting and flying.
Migration
This installation refers to the major migration phenomenon in China, Wang says, adding that birds, like people, have to adapt to new environments after migration; they are inexperienced and confused and feel that they have no choice.
Visitors can observe the installation by watching real-time video playing on a wall in another hall. A related documentary describes the process of making the installation; it's playing on a small TV embedded in a wall.
"Western art has offered a lot of thought on the modern age, and I hope to convey my thoughts on the modern age, via Chinese ink art, which is rare in today's China," Wang says.
"Many Chinese calligraphers or painter are stuck at the skills of using the ink and brush, but Wang breaks the impasse and explores his new way," says art critic Yang Jinsong, associate director of the inter-media arts school of the China Academy of Art.
Related to the installation are a series of black-and-white photos of birds and stones, printed on textured rice paper and printed with Chinese characters. It's the first time Wang has printed photos.
The characters are written in blank areas of the paper, while a red Chinese seal is stamped on the lower part of the photo.
Wang's works are based on traditional Chinese art, adopting Western elements such as collage and burning.
Most of his works feature Chinese characters or landscapes burned in with cigarettes or lighted incense; they have a lower layer of authentic traditional Chinese calligraphy or painting and a upper layer with burned-in characters or patterns.
"Traditional stuff is great, and we don't need to throw it away, but need to express it in a modern way," Wang says. "The upper collage adds new modern meaning to the lower layer, while the lower layer is like a basis of the culture, which supports and enriches the entire piece."
He calls this type of work his "Digital Series," suggesting the contrast between modern times and old art.
Wang first creates a painting of calligraphy work as the bottom or lower layer; he then makes another with similar content, burns outlines and characters into it and then places the two together.
The patterns on the two layers are not exactly the same, but are related in composition, style and content, so the two pieces resonate when they overlap.
Wang, who was born in 1960, has exhibited around the world. His works are included in the collections of the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others.
Wang began his "Digital Series" in 2002 when he was an artist-in-residence in Paris. When burning ash from his cigarette fell on an artwork, he was inspired to carry through with the idea of burning images and characters.
He experimented with burning effects on various kinds of paper and fabric including silk and rice paper containing a long piece of corn silk.
The burned characters are not prose or verse and some are not accurate Chinese characters. Wang explains that he wants to decrease the meaning of the characters on the paper but encourage people to explore the artistic thoughts behind the paper.
"Wang develops the possibilities of materials and find the balance between technique and art," says Sang Huoyao, a contemporary ink-wash painter and vice director of the Zhejiang Art Museum.
"The whole theory explores a new way, and my first instinct is that the series is a mixture between landscape and telling a story, of which the lines of burnt characters tell people's story and life," says Denise Callendes, a visitor from the UK.
Date: through March 28
Address: 52-1 Yan'an Rd S.
Tel: (0571) 8782-5633
Wang, a noted Shanghainese calligrapher, is dean and professor of the Art and Design Department of Fudan University. He is known for his avant-garde Chinese ink art, as well as his combination of calligraphy, installation and video.
An exhibition of Wang's calligraphy and installation is underway at Sanshang Art Gallery in Hangzhou.
The solo exhibition, titled "Solitude Hill" after a real hill and island on West Lake, features a series of calligraphy, paintings, an installation, a documentary and videos.
The installation, positioned at the entrance, features a wall with a horizontal strip of glass at eye level. Looking inside one sees a small pond, with dark water dyed by Chinese ink, several small nearby rockeries and birds nesting and flying.
Migration
This installation refers to the major migration phenomenon in China, Wang says, adding that birds, like people, have to adapt to new environments after migration; they are inexperienced and confused and feel that they have no choice.
Visitors can observe the installation by watching real-time video playing on a wall in another hall. A related documentary describes the process of making the installation; it's playing on a small TV embedded in a wall.
"Western art has offered a lot of thought on the modern age, and I hope to convey my thoughts on the modern age, via Chinese ink art, which is rare in today's China," Wang says.
"Many Chinese calligraphers or painter are stuck at the skills of using the ink and brush, but Wang breaks the impasse and explores his new way," says art critic Yang Jinsong, associate director of the inter-media arts school of the China Academy of Art.
Related to the installation are a series of black-and-white photos of birds and stones, printed on textured rice paper and printed with Chinese characters. It's the first time Wang has printed photos.
The characters are written in blank areas of the paper, while a red Chinese seal is stamped on the lower part of the photo.
Wang's works are based on traditional Chinese art, adopting Western elements such as collage and burning.
Most of his works feature Chinese characters or landscapes burned in with cigarettes or lighted incense; they have a lower layer of authentic traditional Chinese calligraphy or painting and a upper layer with burned-in characters or patterns.
"Traditional stuff is great, and we don't need to throw it away, but need to express it in a modern way," Wang says. "The upper collage adds new modern meaning to the lower layer, while the lower layer is like a basis of the culture, which supports and enriches the entire piece."
He calls this type of work his "Digital Series," suggesting the contrast between modern times and old art.
Wang first creates a painting of calligraphy work as the bottom or lower layer; he then makes another with similar content, burns outlines and characters into it and then places the two together.
The patterns on the two layers are not exactly the same, but are related in composition, style and content, so the two pieces resonate when they overlap.
Wang, who was born in 1960, has exhibited around the world. His works are included in the collections of the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others.
Wang began his "Digital Series" in 2002 when he was an artist-in-residence in Paris. When burning ash from his cigarette fell on an artwork, he was inspired to carry through with the idea of burning images and characters.
He experimented with burning effects on various kinds of paper and fabric including silk and rice paper containing a long piece of corn silk.
The burned characters are not prose or verse and some are not accurate Chinese characters. Wang explains that he wants to decrease the meaning of the characters on the paper but encourage people to explore the artistic thoughts behind the paper.
"Wang develops the possibilities of materials and find the balance between technique and art," says Sang Huoyao, a contemporary ink-wash painter and vice director of the Zhejiang Art Museum.
"The whole theory explores a new way, and my first instinct is that the series is a mixture between landscape and telling a story, of which the lines of burnt characters tell people's story and life," says Denise Callendes, a visitor from the UK.
Date: through March 28
Address: 52-1 Yan'an Rd S.
Tel: (0571) 8782-5633
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