Asia is a treasure trove of talents and has produced many renowned artists in the field of contemporary art. Most notable among the Asian contemporary art form is the emergence of calligraphy art. While calligraphy has been in use since the ancient times in China, Japan, and other Chinese speaking countries in Asia, it is only in the last decade that Calligraphy as an art form has gained popularity both because of its unique qualities and practical purpose.
Calligraphy is the ancient Chinese way of writing and the characters are totally different from the usual alphabet that we are familiar with. The characters are written using a Chinese brush dipped in black ink and the strokes are very fluid and continuous. It requires a steady hand and a lot of practice to produce calligraphy writing of artistic value. It is a kind of art work that is not found elsewhere in the world except in Asia and the art pieces are rarely found exhibited in world renowned museum that is why it is considered a pure art form and is highly valued not only for its quality but also for its utilitarian purpose.
Calligraphy has been around for as long as China, Japan, and Korea had been in existent. The original purpose for calligraphy was mainly for writing literary pieces and for making seals. Western alphabets are used to spell a word but in calligraphy, each Chinese character is enough to carry the whole message. The art of seal making eventually evolved and developed into a full blown art form by Japanese and Chinese artists who used alternative media such as wood blocks and textile screen to produce contemporary calligraphy art that is highly valued for its cultural heritage.
What makes calligraphy unique as an art form is the amount of discipline that goes in carving each piece of wood or stone into characters. The choice of Chinese characters to be carved requires a deep understanding and familiarity of Chinese history both ancient and modern because each character may have more than one meaning. Most calligraphy seals are carved in materials that are endogenous to Asia such as bamboo, basswood, pine and some are carved on semi-precious stones.
The strokes used in writing the calligraphy are very delicate and continuous in a style called “Zhuan”. You often see this style used by beauty products in their promotional material such as Revlon and No No Hair Removal as it’s elegance is very attractive. That said, it requires a lot of practice to perfect the strokes and the artist must also be good in controlling the hand movements to produce the desired flair or exaggeration for visual impact. For some people, it may take years of practice and a lot of patience for the strokes to be considered good enough.
Calligraphy may be written on paper or carved on wood blocks, stones or other hard materials. It is both an ornament that can be displayed at home or in the office. Its utilitarian purpose sprung from the use of seals as an official stamp on documents and checks. As a contemporary art form, calligraphy is highly valued for its artistic qualities because of its uniqueness and its political connotations.
