Arts expo a culture gala

The Seventh National Calligraphy and Seal-carving Exhibition closed on Saturday at the China National Art Museum in Beijing, leaving organizers, artists and viewers with a lot to think about.

Widely regarded as the country's biggest gala of the classical Chinese fine arts, the event takes place once every four years. It is a supreme honour for contemporary calligraphers and seal-carvers to display their artwork in the show.

To be selected, the artists must be recognized by the mainstream art world and be a member of the Chinese Calligraphers' Association (CCA), the sponsor of the exhibition. This year's exhibition was on an unprecedented scale, including more than 1,000 works, one from each artist. It occupied all the exhibition halls of the country's top art museum. Fifty emerging artists were awarded for their excellent works.

In conjunction with the show, a three-volume catalogue was published and a symposium on contemporary calligraphy was held in Beijing.

"The scale of the exhibit proves the Chinese calligraphy fever that started in the early 1980s is still growing," said calligrapher Cai Xianglin, secretary-general of the exhibition's judging committee and director of CCA's exhibition centre. Cai has been the chief organizer of the past several national exhibitions.

According to Cai, the artworks were selected from more than 25,000 submitted pieces. The number of entries almost doubled since the previous exhibit. A lot of artists featured in the show are new faces, he said.

Many visitors to this year's exhibit found they were bombarded by artworks representing the powerful influences of Chinese literati culture and artistic traditions.

Works of celebrated calligraphers like Shen Peng, Liu Yunquan and Sun Boxiang were well received by people who visited the show.

"The fluid and elegant running script work of Shen Peng impressed me the most. Through his works I can feel the beauty of calligraphic lines that flow naturally, displaying the author's romantic personality and profound cultural background," said Han Ming, a Beijing-based art researcher.

CCA Acting President Shen Peng is also well-known for being a famous poet, editor and scholar of Chinese art.

"Liu Yunquan's calligraphy is similar to Shen Peng's in the quality of their calligraphic lines, which are highly expressive. I love the spontaneity and unique composition of each character on his hanging scroll on display," said Han. Liu is a veteran calligrapher from Southwest China's Sichuan Province and a member of the judging committee for the national exhibition. His art has influenced many young calligraphers in China over the past two decades.

But the accomplished artists did not take the limelight away from such promising young artists as Wang Jiangsong, Guan Jun and Hong Houtian, who attracted attention at the exhibit for their skills and quest to express individuality and modernity in the traditional art.

Wang Jiangsong, from East China's Zhejiang Province, used the form of ancient Chinese round fans in his award-winning work. It consists of five round fans in different colours, each with cursive-style calligraphy that evokes the poetic lifestyle of 4th century Chinese artists and literati. The modern elements in the composition lend the work an exciting look.

The unique art form of seal-carving is usually seen as a subordinate, but somewhat independent, branch of Chinese calligraphy.

Huang Lianping, a seal-carver from Shanghai, was one of the only two artists awarded for their excellent seal-carving. Huang's work is remarkable in that his creative and bold composition seems to have greatly expanded the limited space of the seal stone. The extraordinarily dynamic lines and images cut by Huang's iron knife are also impressive.

Also eye-catching in the exhibition were works by some Chinese calligraphers living overseas, including artists from the United States.

Although few in amount and less striking in artistic power, their works added to the diversity of the show and evidenced the vitality of this Chinese art overseas.

"The art of Chinese calligraphy has developed in the past four years with the participation of more and more people," Cai said. "Welcomed by the masses of people, it will definitely prosper with the cultural quality of Chinese people improving."

Besides putting on smaller shows at home, Cai said, the Chinese Calligraphers' Association is planning to organize more exhibitions and exchange programmes abroad to make the latest developments of Chinese calligraphy known to more people outside China.

Optimistic as he is, Cai still worries that the decline of some artists in their cultural quality would affect the quality of their work. Many calligraphers today focus too much on the skill side while neglecting the necessary cultural background for the artistic creation, such as knowledge of Chinese literature and history.

"To improve the cultural awareness of artists, CCA began to require the applicants to present a scholarly essay in addition to calligraphic works to enter the national exhibition. It is a good start, although only 870 people out of the 25,000 applicants presented their essays this time," he said.

Cai noted that one volume of the exhibition catalogue is a collection of essays by the artists. The articles cover many aspects of the art and culture of Chinese calligraphy, from artistic creation, appreciation to criticism.

Wei Ligang, a modern calligrapher and artist in Beijing, had some criticism for the show, however, saying that some works, intentionally or unconsciously, imitate works of ancient masters or fashionable styles of certain accomplished contemporary calligraphers. As a result, they lack creativity, especially with respect to artistic concepts, he said.

"I can feel little conceptual power behind the works. 'Why do I make the work?' This is a question that any real artists should ask themselves," Wei said.

Date: 01/12/2000
Author: YANG YINGSHI, China Daily staff
Copyright? by China Daily

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