Finished piece with materials nearby
The fieldwork field school met several artists living in Song Zhuang, an area outside of Beijing where contemporary artists have congregated. This area has been developing as a popular artist community over the past twenty five years. The local government now estimates the area attracts approximately 500,000 tourists a year who visit galleries and artist’s studios. Wei Ligang is a painter and calligrapher who lives and has his studio in Song Zhuang. The area where his studio is located is surrounded by other completed studios and finished houses. Other areas of Song Zhuang are being developed and artists live in studios and living quarters that are under construction. Many galleries and buildings are being built to accommodate Song Zhuang’s popularity and continued attraction to artists and visitors. The local government has ambitious plans to develop Song Zhuang further as an arts area. Representatives of the local government presented these plans to the fieldwork team. We met them in a building constructed to house the government in the last year. This new building incorporates a large sculpture of a life-sized carousel in a central courtyard and 2-D work in the hallways and conference rooms. Government representatives presented a highly produced video narrated in English spelling out the government’s plans for development of commercial arts areas and public transportation. The video suggests development of the area will help artists “pursue artistic ideals” and develop a “well known cultural brand.” However, the government also plans to preserve the buildings in the village where artists first congregated when the area was farmland and artist’s studios were located on farmer’s property. The government will add amenities such as improved water and gas services to existing structures. The representatives we met with also stated they would be setting aside land for individual artists to build on. Wei Ligang told us he was attracted to Song Zhuang and moved to Song Zhuang in 1995 from the 798 Art Zone located in Beijing. The 798 Art Zone houses a concentrated number of galleries and studios including Iberia Art Center, Beijing Tokyo Art Projects, Pace Beijing and numerous others. Wei Ligang states he moved to Song Zhuang in the earlier stages of its development because Song Zhuang was contributing more to Chinese art than the 798 Art Zone.
A tour of his studio before the fieldwork team interviewed Wei Ligang gave us insight into his personal artistic practice through the materials he surrounded himself with. Materials, finished works, works in progress, pieces from other artists and bookshelves of art books about other Chinese artists were in the studio. There were collected items and photographs from the artist’s travels, his assistant’s studio and a tea set with electric kettle in the living areas. The studio and living areas consisted of open modern architecture and the studio on the first floor was visible from the open balconies of the living area. Images of Wei Ligang’s finished pieces illustrate the influence of both Chinese calligraphy traditions and Western practices of abstraction on his work. Bai Qianshen writes about Wei Ligang’s work in an introduction to one of the artist’s monograph: “…adding cursive techniques to such already complicated structures made Wei’s work increasingly illegible. Yet, even as he departed from the standard form of written scripts and legibility, the concept of calligraphy as an art based on square characters was not diminished but enhanced and intensified.”1 The illegibility moves the forms of the characters used to impart meaning in written language towards abstract images. How might a viewer who is mostly familiar with Western traditions of abstraction interpret these pieces differently than a viewer mostly familiar with Chinese calligraphic traditions?
An introduction to another monograph of Wei Ligang’s by Robert Morgan a critic and artist illustrates the lifelong commitment an artist must have to in order to progress in the study of brush painting. First they must learn the stroke order. Then the amount of pressure applied to each stroke. Then the artist must learn the appropriate timing to illustrate rhythm and finally how to mix water and ink in the proper amounts.[2] The process of lifelong learning is connected to the historically practiced methods of learning calligraphy. In this same introduction Robert Morgan also compares Wei Ligang to Jackson Pollack. When comparing Wei Ligang to Pollack, Morgan comments, “Wei holds the capability to respond to the moment without forgetting or ignoring the lessons of history that empower his incredible dexterity and conceptual manner of intuition.”[3] Although Morgan notes that Pollack’s method of painting, which is highly physical, is different than Wei Ligang’s more reserved style, there are similarities in their artistic products context. Yet the process of creating and historical practice of calligraphy is not the only influence on the artist’s style.
In the excerpt from the videotaped recording with Wei Ligang we have included with this post he discusses his personal artistic style. The interview took place in the artist’s studio on a balcony with chairs, couches, a table and materials for making tea. During the interview Wei Ligang’s assistant and student Mr. He provided tea for all present. Pots in the tea set were decorated with gold markings similar to marks made in Wei Ligang’s work on paper. The work he discussed with us includes both purely abstract pieces and pieces with strokes that are more referential to written characters, although they might not all be legible. Wei Ligang tells us that he incorporates his background in mathematics with his study of contemporary calligraphy and calligraphy traditions to achieve a new style. A member of our fieldwork team Yuting Han, who is from Beijing and practices calligraphy says “I think the biggest reason why Mr. Wei’s product is so special is because he cannot get rid of the influence from his background in mathematics.” Mr. Wei notices that different types of backgrounds and upbringing will cause an artist to create a different product but the product which resonates most with the audience is successful. Wei Ligang’s position on the influence of Western culture as well as the differences between Western and Eastern culture develops his personal position further. This leads him to advise his calligraphy students to absorb the positive aspects of American culture. Wei Ligang, illustrates the importance of Western influence on his personal practice along with the historical context of calligraphy practice in Chinese culture. The materials and tools the artist uses demonstrate the confluence of these traditions. Wei Ligang discussed the importance of the use of ink in art and painting in China. Furthermore, with the development of China and the globalization of the art world Chinese artists merged ink painting with oil painting and this lead to a fresh style which Wei Ligang thinks can raise the artist’s position in a global art market. Wei Ligang’s materials include both inks used in calligraphy practice and acrylic paints and brushes used for calligraphy and Western styles of paintings. Click on the pictures below to enlarge it and examine the materials used by Wei Ligang. Pictured are materials that are unique to China, but others which are very familiar to artists in the US. What materials do you recognize and which materials do you not recognize from an art store or materials you have used yourself to create artworks? Given the influence of western art on Wei Ligang it is interesting to consider that influence in relationship to how it is expressed with Chines materials – for example brushes. Our interview with Wei Ligang also raises comparisons between the development going on in Song Zhuang with the problems of gentrification associated with artists moving into certain areas which are more affordable and the trajectory of artist’s moves from cities, like what is occurring in urban areas in the US. The ambitious plans to develop Song Zhuang into a globally recognized location for creative production also has parallels to certain types of development in the US but also differs because of the high level of involvement the local government has in facilitating this and preserving the certain parts of the area which existed before development began.
[1] Qianshen, Bai. Wei Ligang: Wei Zhou Armoury. pp. 3
[2] Morgan, Robert. Gold Collect: Works Collection of Wei Ligang pp. 3
[3] Morgan, Robert. Gold Collect: Works Collection of Wei Ligang pp. 3
Field Work Team
Rosalynn Rothstein – Coordinating Field Worker
Samuel R Gehrke – Videographer
Jo Guan – Interviewer and translator
Yuting Han – Interviewer and translator
Works Cited
Morgan, Robert. Introduction. Gold – Collect. Works Collection of Wei Ligang Print Catalog.
Qianshen, Bai. Introduction. Wei Ligang: Wei Zhou Armoury. Ed. Zhang Zikang. Chengdu: Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2006.