Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Chinese New Year soon, art celebration



At the library I use there's an exciting exhibit, small but lovely, of Chinese calligraphy and images, carved into wood and inked. It's a stunning notion, and apparently not a new one in Chinese art, to carve calligraphy into wood as well as onto paper, and this local artist is sharing a terrific output.

The largest piece, the horizontal one which does not show up well in the picture, because the incision is not inked, just left natural, took two years to carve -- it's a classic Chinese poem, written in political exile, about the simple beauty of everyday life and sights.

My favorites are the plum blossom/bamboo piece



and the small really flying exciting calligraphy. It hardly matters if you can translate, since the work itself is so visually exciting to see.






I've taken a picture of the explanatory text meant to tell us nonChinese readers about the tradition and meaning of the pieces.



Remember you can usually click on pix to enlarge them. Enjoy.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the gallery tour, just the perfect morning for it and something new to me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So pleasing to the eye - thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Please read the comments before yours and see if your question is already answered! I've reluctantly deleted the anonymous option, because it was being abused.