Tag: Calligraphy
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Dot and Emptiness: The Essence of Chinese Art
How can a small ink mark change an entire painting? Brush exercises, ensō circles and Liang Kai’s Li Bai Strolling lead from the making of a dot to the active role of unpainted space.
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Autumn Reflections
Four short fictional poems explore decay, deception and the fall of a familiar figure. English semi-haiku, Chinese adaptations and my calligraphy meet in an autumn experiment, with a look at how the final poem changed through revision.
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The Abundance of Modesty
Cheng Yutian’s calligraphies and seals of 謙受益 bring back memories of learning in China. Through the image of an overflowing vessel and my friendship with Wang Jinhuai, I reflect on modesty as a willingness to receive.
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Between Calligraphy and Painting
Years of calligraphy practice shape how I paint: the weight of a stroke, the space around it and the rhythm of the whole. These studies follow that connection from broad gestures to dense layers of writing.
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Superior Haiku by Ashley
Ashley’s haiku inspired a small collaboration: a free Chinese adaptation written in cursive script. I follow the choices of wording, brush movement and composition, with studies and a video of the finished work.
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Red Dao and Black Zen: Painted Calligraphy
From green and turquoise layers to Red Dao and Black Zen, I follow the point where repeated writing becomes painting. Two process videos show how brushwork, rhythm and reduction shape these works.
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Old and New Works
Calligraphy teaches me to look at weight, rhythm and the spaces between strokes. These old and mostly new works follow that practice into painting, layered poems and encounters between Chinese writing and European images.
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How an Idea Takes Root and Persists
Some images accompany us for years: leaves falling into a meadow, a twig frozen against a window, a ribbon drifting through light. These memories gradually became Poetry from the Sky.
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Just Two Characters
Two Chinese characters for waiting lead to memories of a book-cover commission and a lesson about brushes. A calligraphy video and a poem painted across ginkgo leaves complete the post.
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Waltzing Corona: A Triptych on Balance and Yin-Yang
Three panels on dance and absence at the start of 2022, with a close look at their brushwork, empty spaces and shifting balance.
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New Year’s Pastime
Several versions of a Tang Yin poem mark the start of 2022, with thoughts on calligraphy, music and the long road from practice to mastery.
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Why I Practice Painted Calligraphy
Three reasons I return to Chinese calligraphy: its demands, the measure it gives of my development, and the path it opens from figurative painting to abstraction.
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Easter Contribution: Dürer Overwritten with a Mao Slogan
A green Mao inscription crosses an old reproduction of Christ on the Cross: an Easter work reflecting on belief, publishing and the shaping of public opinion.
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Recent Work: Day 4/7 — Gestural Calligraphy
Three works exploring the space between writing and painting: gestural forms suggest characters, folded ribbons and objects that change as we look.
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Recent Work: Day 2/7 — Mao’s Slogan on an Old Invoice
Red calligraphy on a Romanian invoice and a related work with pressed flowers: reflections on Mao’s slogans, political promises and their darker implications.
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Recent Work: Day 1/7 — Blue Painted Calligraphy
Blue painted calligraphy made by writing poems by Tang Yin over one another. Day 1 of a seven-part series, with two details showing the overlapping layers.
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An Obsolete Stock Certificate Painted Over with a Mao Poem
A century-old Austrian stock certificate overwritten with a Mao Zedong poem, exploring the decline of empires and the rise of China.
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Chinese TV Invited Me to Write a New Year Couplet
A short Chinese TV appearance, a New Year couplet and only two sheets of red paper. Alongside the video: my February 2021 front-page interview in Guangming Daily.
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The Principle of Balance in Chinese Painting
How can a small bird balance a heavy branch? I explore the relationships between brushstrokes, painted forms and empty space through nine illustrations from Chinese painting and calligraphy.