Chinese calligraphy
Chinese calligraphy “Brush calligraphy” is an art unique to Asian cultures. Regarded as the most abstract and sublime form of art in Chinese culture, "Shu Fa" (calligraphy) is often thought to be most revealing of one's personality. During the imperial era, calligraphy was used as an important criterion for selection of executives to the Imperial court. Unlike other visual art techniques, all calligraphy strokes are permanent and incorrigible, demanding careful planning and confident execution. Such are the skills required for an administrator / executive. While one has to conform to the defined structure of words, the expression can be extremely creative. To exercise humanistic imagination and touch under the faceless laws and regulations is also a virtue well appreciated.
By controlling the concentration of ink, the thickness and adsorptivity of the paper, and the flexibility of the brush, the artist is free to produce an infinite variety of styles and forms. In contrast to western calligraphy, diffusing ink blots and dry brush strokes are viewed as a natural impromptu expression rather than a fault. While western calligraphy often pursue font-like uniformity, homogeneity of characters in one size is only a craft. To the artist, calligraphy is a mental exercise that coordinates the mind and the body to choose the best styling in expressing the content of the passage. It is a most relaxing yet highly disciplined exercise indeed for one's physical and spiritual well being. Historically, many calligraphy artists were well-known for their longevity.
Brush calligraphy is not only loved and practiced by Chinese. Koreans and Japanese equally adore calligraphy as an important treasure of their heritage.
Chinese Painting
Is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style involves essentially the same techniques as calligraphy and is done with a brush dipped in black or colored ink; oils are not used. As with calligraphy, the most popular materials on which paintings are made are paper and silk. The finished work is then mounted on scrolls, which can be hung or rolled up. Traditional painting also is done in albums and on walls, lacquer work, and other media.
Traditionally there are those in which only black Mo is used, and those color pigments are used. There are basically two types of Chinese paintings: the meticulous (gong-bi) style, and the freehand (xie-yi) style. My favorite is the freehand style Chinese painting, in which objects are painted with very few strokes, but yet the sprites and shapes are excellently captured by the curves and mo. Some white space is often kept unpainted in such a way that it will lead you to your imagination inspired by the painted part. Often a poem is also written on the canvas expression the same idea as the painting itself.
In the old times, the freestyle painting are often created by scholars or poets which wanted to use the paintings to express themselves in a more spiritual way just like their poems. Their paintings are not intended to pick up the exact shapes of objects (like taking photography), but to capture the objects' spirits.
Chinese Seal Carving
The history of Chinese seal carving 篆刻can be dated back to the time of the Zhou-Han 周汉Dynasty. Seal carvers of the modern times cannot often avoid making reference to the classical works of those renowned calligraphers in the Zhou-Han 周汉or Qing 清Dynasty. However, from the time after Han 汉to Qing 清( i.e. the Tang 唐, Song宋, Yuan 元Dynasty ) the use of seal for personal identification was less common. The art of seal carving then came to a dormant period in history.
Till Qing 清Dynasty, an atmosphere of renaissance gradually emerged along with the trend of archaeology development. Many educated people followed the old style and put seal-prints on their finished works of painting, writing and poetry.
As the art of seal carving became popular, the seal-carvers grouped themselves into different schools according to the style of their work. Among those, there were three most influential to the modern work, namely Zhao Zhi Qian 赵之谦, Wu Chang Shuo 吴昌硕and Qi Bai Shi 齐白石 All of them were also outstanding painters, calligraphers and poem-writers.
Seal-chops are made of jade, ivory, or soft precious stones. The body of the chop can be of different sizes and shapes. The 'head' may be sculpted into shape of animal like fish, goat, lion, dragon, or any other symbolic image. Besides for use on traditional paintings and calligraphy, name seals are nowadays also used as a personal identification in money transactions and other bussiness matters.
Mr. Liang YongGui
Mr. Liang, Yonggui is a famous Chinese ink painting artist. He was born in 1945 in the North West China. He has studied painting since his early childhood years. Mr. Liang studied in Beijing Painting College and Central Academy of Fine Arts in China. As the first-class painting master of country level, his works were selected as exhibitions all over China. He held personal exhibitions in France, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and some other locations of the world.
Mr. Liang has achieved great success with special ink painting technique (Free Hand Brushwork) that he has developed, examples of which are displayed in our gallery. His style of painting is natural and fresh, sparse but well knit, with bold strokes and simple colors, which gives his work distinctive characteristics.
Frank started painting at the age of five and learned Chinese Seal Carving when he was twelve. Frank inspired by the art of Chinese brush painting and learned about the techniques from some Chinese famous artists, with concentration on painting of animals such as Horse and Rooster. He won the award of Chinese youth painting competition when he was a teenager.
Frank's paintings and calligraphy appear contemporary Chinese artworks that are made in the style and tradition of Chinese ink paintings using traditional materials, subjects and compositions. The work of Frank reflects the power of creative concept. He always believes painting and calligraphy are the best method to release the pressure and enjoy the beauty of the art.