My Shu Fa

Decades ago, my calligraphy was said to be 'avant-garde'. I do not understand what 'avant-garde' is; instead I like to call my work 'contemporary Shu Fa'. Like ballet, Chinese calligraphy is a classical art; it demands discipline and practice. In contrast, contemporary art emphasizes on free form and spontaneity. So, in my work, I intend to blend discipline with freedom. I use many visual art concepts, for example from the fields of graphic design, colour, and film, and incorporate them into the classical art of calligraphy. I wish to make a change, to express a new phase in calligraphy, similar to the change in ballet from classical to modern, and in music from opera to musicals.

However, my way of doing it has brought a mixed reaction. Some classical calligraphers think that I abandon the good old tradition, and attack it. Mostly, modern art circle don't know quite what to think of my work, as they don't understand calligraphy and don't see the importance of Chinese calligraphy in modern art or the modern world.

In fact, I believe calligraphy is the most representative form of Chinese art in history. As to how popular Chinese calligraphy is, in Suzhou (蘇州, the largest city in the world in the 15th and 16th centuries), between 'the Humble Offical Garden' (拙政園) and 'Tiger Hill' (虎丘), there are over one thousand pieces of wooden and stone steles (with engraved calligraphy). 'Sanxitang' (三希堂) of the Imperial Palace, known as the Forbidden City, in Beijing keeps three art treasures that were regarded by the famous Emperor in 'Qing' Dynasty, 'Qianlong' (乾隆, 1711-99) as the most precious in the world and they are calligraphy. Legend says that the famous 'Lanting' (蘭亭), a piece of calligraphy in Running Script brushed by the famous calligrapher, 'Wang Xizhi' (王羲之), was kept in the tomb of the famous Emperor 'Taizong' of the Tang Dynasty (唐太宗).

In China, both the past and present, every person learns calligraphy. As a tradition, the first day of learning is also the first day of using the brush in writing. However, calligraphy nowadays is becoming less popular, mainly due to changes in people's attitude and thinking since the 19th century. Since the upsurge of Western economic power over the last 150 years, all aspects of Chinese culture have been regarded by the Chinese as outdated and backward. Chinese people wanted to understand more about Western culture and considered calligraphy not only useless but also a hindrance in learning.

Even so, those Chinese who had thorough knowledge of and were good at Western art realized and appreciated the tremendous breadth and depth of Chinese art. Hence, we saw famous Chinese painters, such as 'Xu Bei Hong' (徐悲鴻), 'Liu Hai Su' (劉海粟) and 'Lin Feng Mian' (林風眠) who learned Western art, came back to work on Chinese art. Among the Chinese arts, calligraphy is the best for expressing one's 'qing' and 'yi', for expressing one's inner self, and one's attitude towards nature and life. It is hard for foreigners to believe that, over several thousand years ago, an art form that is both impulsive and disciplined, abstract and yet concrete, already existed in China.

Luckily, the general public as a whole loves my calligraphy. I must sincerely thank all my friends who have been supporting me through so many years.