Veteran calligrapher Hsiao Shih-chiung (蕭世瓊), the pioneer of "modern calligraphy under classical doctrine,” will host a solo exhibition at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts from March 5 through May 22.
Hsiao, an assistant professor at Asia University, has spent over thirty years researching calligraphy. His area of knowledge encompasses three thousand years of Chinese written evolution that gave rise to the oracle bone script, seal script, clerical script, regular script, running script, and grass script.
The personality and character of an individual, he argues, manifest in his or her handwriting. But with the brush now replaced by the keyboard, the classical art of calligraphy struggles to maintain temporal significance and is becoming increasingly marginalized as an independent aesthetical medium.
In "Going My Own Way to Art,” Hsiao strives to remind exhibitiongoers that the written language is in itself the fruit of human civilization and intelligence. Moreover, classical Chinese — with its historic influence on East Asian languages and Western abstract art — is a legacy that society cannot afford to ignore.
Apart from sixty works of calligraphy, Hsiao has also included 30 engraved porcelains and 20 engraved teapots as part of his solo exhibition to promote the notion of "calligraphy in daily life.” The integration of calligraphy and daily objects will help exhibitiongoers visualize how calligraphy can be in line with the modern living experience.
'Going My Own Way to Art: An Exhibition of Creativity by Hsiao Shih-Chiung'
- Date: March 5 - May 22, 2016
- Venue: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
- Address: No. 2 Wuquan W. Rd. Section 1, West District, Taichung City, 403, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
- Website: https://www.ntmofa.gov.tw/
- Media Gallery: calligraphy samples