‘When the Chinese invented printing, Westerners were using parchment’: woodblock printer celebrates power of an enduring art form
In the digital age of instant everything, Wei Lizhong is dedicated to keeping alive an art form whose practitioners can take years to produce a single print. An exhibition of his work opens in Beijing this week
For Wei Lizhong, nothing better reflects the ingenuity and resplendence of ancient Chinese civilisation than woodblock printing.
“With a thousand-year history, printing is one of the four great Chinese inventions. When the Chinese invented printing, Westerners were using parchment. When we did woodblock printing with colours, they were doing only monochrome printing,” he says.
The powerful pan-Asian message of woodblock printing
To this day, Wei says, it remains superior to modern printing.
“Modern printing can never compare with ancient woodblock printing. The colours produced by the mineral inks we use are very pure, unlike those produced by modern printers’ ink. The paper we use is very light [and cannot be used in a machine].”
An exhibition of more than 200 of Wei’s works – including paintings and seals – opens at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing this week.
For all the history behind the art form, Wei says he has incorporated modern elements into it to strike a chord with contemporary society.
