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Modern calligraphy that stretches imagination
By Xu Wenwen |
December 20, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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THE art of calligraphy is said to represent the essence of traditional Chinese philosophy, and six noted contemporary artists are taking it to an unusual modern level - even involving burned garbage and yogurt.
The six-month calligraphy exhibition "Decanter Ink" is underway at the Sunshine Contemporary Art Museum in Hangzhou.
It is comprised of a collective exhibition (through June 1, 2012) and six solo exhibitions by famous calligraphers and painters Zhang Hao, Wang Tiande, Wang Donglin, Hua Jun, Guan Huaibin and Huang Jun.
The six solo exhibitions will go chronologically from March 4 to 23.
Zhang Hao displays his huge, wall-sized calligraphy works, which do not represent specific characters but large, overlapping strokes that allow space for the imagination.
"These are my thoughts about space," says Zhang. "I hope people standing in front of my works can feel the existence of space."
"Everybody should have their own thoughts about abstract works, so the exhibition does not label the works; thus people's thoughts won't be limited by names," says exhibition curator Chen Zijin, the gallery's artistic director.
Guan Huaibin has spent more than 10 years visiting Japan and he is famous for combining Chinese art and installation art. His solo exhibition features dozens of letters written by brush while he was in Japan.
Another work is a video titled "Refluence" that shows the famous tides of the Qianjiang River. It's not calligraphy but the waves suggest the flowing of calligraphy.
The term "Refluence," or flowing back, refers to many social issues, says Guan. "My work aims to criticize society's foam-like development."
Artists use not only brush and ink, but other tools. Wang Tiande uses not only brush and ink but also burning incense to burn shapes at random on paper. Some works feature characters burned by incense, and some contain both ink and incense-burned characters together, and others use semi-transparent paper so that ink and incense-strokes can be superimposed upon each other.
Huang Jun's bold and abstract ink paintings use super-dense ink, which is as thick as wall paint, to render traditional subjects such as mountains and rivers in landscapes as well as human figures.
Hua Jun writes his calligraphy using yogurt which spoils and develops mold. A white character shou (meaning receive and collect) was written on red glass a year ago.
Hua used glue to write the English word "REGARD" on a wall, and then threw ashes of burned garbage on it.
"Sometimes artists' works are viewed as rubbish, so I wondered why not use rubbish to make artwork," says Hua.
Wall-size calligraphy is featured in Wang Donglin's solo exhibition, but he includes a smaller work in cursive calligraphy - an 18-page, letter-sized modern poem "Chinese Department" expressing a young person's thoughts about modern culture.
"Calligraphy of traditional Chinese poems is not rare, but using calligraphy to express a modern poem is like the collision of two cultures," Chen Zijin says.
Date: through June 1, 2012
Address: 52-1 Yan'an Rd S.
Tel: (0571) 8782-5611
The six-month calligraphy exhibition "Decanter Ink" is underway at the Sunshine Contemporary Art Museum in Hangzhou.
It is comprised of a collective exhibition (through June 1, 2012) and six solo exhibitions by famous calligraphers and painters Zhang Hao, Wang Tiande, Wang Donglin, Hua Jun, Guan Huaibin and Huang Jun.
The six solo exhibitions will go chronologically from March 4 to 23.
Zhang Hao displays his huge, wall-sized calligraphy works, which do not represent specific characters but large, overlapping strokes that allow space for the imagination.
"These are my thoughts about space," says Zhang. "I hope people standing in front of my works can feel the existence of space."
"Everybody should have their own thoughts about abstract works, so the exhibition does not label the works; thus people's thoughts won't be limited by names," says exhibition curator Chen Zijin, the gallery's artistic director.
Guan Huaibin has spent more than 10 years visiting Japan and he is famous for combining Chinese art and installation art. His solo exhibition features dozens of letters written by brush while he was in Japan.
Another work is a video titled "Refluence" that shows the famous tides of the Qianjiang River. It's not calligraphy but the waves suggest the flowing of calligraphy.
The term "Refluence," or flowing back, refers to many social issues, says Guan. "My work aims to criticize society's foam-like development."
Artists use not only brush and ink, but other tools. Wang Tiande uses not only brush and ink but also burning incense to burn shapes at random on paper. Some works feature characters burned by incense, and some contain both ink and incense-burned characters together, and others use semi-transparent paper so that ink and incense-strokes can be superimposed upon each other.
Huang Jun's bold and abstract ink paintings use super-dense ink, which is as thick as wall paint, to render traditional subjects such as mountains and rivers in landscapes as well as human figures.
Hua Jun writes his calligraphy using yogurt which spoils and develops mold. A white character shou (meaning receive and collect) was written on red glass a year ago.
Hua used glue to write the English word "REGARD" on a wall, and then threw ashes of burned garbage on it.
"Sometimes artists' works are viewed as rubbish, so I wondered why not use rubbish to make artwork," says Hua.
Wall-size calligraphy is featured in Wang Donglin's solo exhibition, but he includes a smaller work in cursive calligraphy - an 18-page, letter-sized modern poem "Chinese Department" expressing a young person's thoughts about modern culture.
"Calligraphy of traditional Chinese poems is not rare, but using calligraphy to express a modern poem is like the collision of two cultures," Chen Zijin says.
Date: through June 1, 2012
Address: 52-1 Yan'an Rd S.
Tel: (0571) 8782-5611
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