Chinese calligraphy has been closely related to brush-and-ink painting for hundreds of years. And since the emergence of wenrenhua (paintings by literati) during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), many Chinese artists have sought to fuse the two traditional art forms.
A new exhibition at the Artist Commune in Cattle Depot shows that this centuries-long challenge is now being taken up by western artists too, albeit in a contemporary context. Featuring 47 works by 11 artists from around the globe, Cursive: Mixed Media Art Exchange Exhibition sets out to convey 'the essential character of cursive writing'. Here, cursive refers to written script as defined by long flowing and connected lines, say curators Thalia Vrachopoulos and Yang Shinyi.
Historically, a running script known as caoshu (writing in cursive hand) came about when Emperor Qin Shi Huang (Qin dynasty, BC221-BC207) ordered a standardised writing system to unify regional communication within China. The characters, written fast with the strokes joined, can vary in size even within the same piece of writing.
But in this cultural exchange show sponsored by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, the artists - all over the age of 40 and with distinct styles - deconstruct traditional calligraphy to give it new meanings.
Artist Commune manager Gum Cheng Yee-man says the exhibition is for those who don't have fixed ideas about Chinese calligraphy. The artists take out the lines, brushstrokes and hooks and put them into new contexts.
'The foreign artists manage to add something odd but amazing to Chinese calligraphy,' Cheng says. 'For example, Jungwook Grace Rim's Ban Ya Sim Kyung is part of a series she has been working on for a long time. Her work is about her inner self. It's very feminine. The heart in her work is simple but amazingly touching.