Bashu Parade: A Shock at the End of the Century

Chu Sang

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Cezanne was not self-conscious when he launched the subversive artistic revolution that began at the end of last century and spanned this one. Following that, African sculpture became a source of inspiration for Picasso, which added roughness to the history. Around that time, the independent art of oriental line and plane -- Japanese Yamato-e and Chinese calligraphy--started to reconstruct Western artistic self-consciousness. The flat space and abstract line, as two heterogenic elements, sped up the modern transformation from Impressionists to Pollock. As of the 1930s, calligraphic painting and Orientalism have filtered into Western abstract conception throughout North America and Europe, making them a source of inspiration for Abstract Expressionism instigated by Kandinsky. History is demonstrating its omen. Looking at the turbulence of the West in the early part of this century and the Chinese calligraphic revolution seen at the end of the century, we find that history has drawn an extremely symbolic track across the plane of time and space. As a matter of fact, the entire history of 20th century fine arts is brimmed with revolutionary dreams and actions -- all the way until the Bashu Parade.

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From June 22-24, an exhibition/symposium titled '99 Chendu Retrospective of Chinese Modern Calligraphy at the End of the 20th Century was held at the Chengdu International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event attracted almost 60 artists and critics from home and abroad, exhibiting more than 400 works and prompting a number of academic papers. Under the spotlight of numerous mass media, four group discussions on specific topics were held, stirring up heated debates. It was one of the most important grand displays and reviews of China's Modern Calligraphy Artistic Movement since the mid-1980s.
Needless to say, after more than 10 years of struggle, China's Modern Calligraphy Artistic Movement has produced some of the best works and most profoundest concepts in the genre's history. At the same time, we have heard even more avant-garde voices, which, filled with imminence, are equivalent to the artistic manifesto of the early 21st century. The theme of the gathering this time, however, was still very definite. That is: Chinese modern calligraphy, as the most persistent and fancied rebellious action, should make its far-reaching prospect and blueprint and express its wish to establish ties with contemporayculture and the international pattern. Bashu Parade is the last insurrection in Chinese contemporary art of this century. It has planted kindling that will hasten the arrival of a new artistic era.

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Nobody dare forecast the destiny of Chinese modern calligraphy. But, there must be a preceding artistic ideal in it, which is largely explained by a huge work, ``Centennial Boat'', displayed in this exhibition. The work, which was mainly created by Wei Ligang with the collaboration of Bu Lieping, Li Jiazheng, Xu Zhongping and Lingzi, is the largest piece of abstract work (13.8mx5.2m) created in China with the richest Chinese flavor (flax, ink and oil paint). As artist Shi Hu ironically predicted during the exhibition, the best Chinese contemporary abstract art can absolutely be completed by modern calligraphers exhibiting their works in this show. In their individual annotations, Chinese artists Gu Gan, Zhang Dawo, Shi Hu, Wei Ligang, Bu Lieping, Li Jiazheng, Yan Binghui, Liu Zijian, Zeng Laide and western artists Sophia Hurst, Frankie Fathers and Yolaine Escande have been releasing their final modern calligraphic impulses of this century. Zhang Qiang was characteristic as always. Through his installation work at the centre of the exhibition hall, he questioned, on his deconstructive stance, the disputes over the limits of modern calligraphy that have taken shape in the past 10-plus years. He tended to make the language of modern calligraphy more vague and vacillating, and, in his own way, once again placed modern calligraphy in suspension.

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Theoretically, the retrospective exhibition has also turned out to be a review of modern calligraphic concepts: Shi Hu's ''calligraphic painting'', We Ligang's ''randomism'', Zhang Qiang's ''traceology'', and Bu Lieping's ''naturalism''. But it is still hard to assert whether these seemingly cogitative viewpoints will influence the future development of modern calligraphy. It is true that many of the works of Bashu Parade revealed a strong desire to develop towards Chinese abstract painting, but the strong motivation to preserve the characteristics of calligraphy persists.
Regardless, the grand gathering, which was curated by Bu Lieping, Wei Ligang, Yan Binghui and Chu Sang after half-a-year's hard work and sponsored by the Sichuan International Culture Exchange Centre, the China Society of Modern Calligraphic Arts, and the Chinese Modern Calligraphy magazine, was unquestionably significant in its documentary value, inclusive nature, and unprecedented scale¡£ Gradually and increasingly strongly, its dynamic elements and far-reaching influence will emerge in the history of Chinese modern calligraphy and Chinese art.

 

 

July 12, 1999

(Chu Sang is an art critic and writer based in Chengdu,Sichuan.)

 

 

 

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