Huang Yuanqing - (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

One of the most representative artists in the field of abstract art in Shanghai and even throughout China, Huang Yuanqing has developed a uniquely distinctive visual philosophy of his paintings. This book features 113 representative works.

One of the most representative artists in the field of abstract art in Shanghai and even throughout China, Huang Yuanqing has developed a uniquely distinctive visual philosophy of his paintings. This book features 113 representative works. On the surface, they may appear close to Western action painting, but in fact they embody the rhythmic logic of wild cursive script (kuangcao) from traditional Chinese calligraphy. In particular, the seemingly casual brushstrokes on the canvas are actually a tightly controlled form of improvisation. Moreover, each work requires repeated layering--sometimes over several months--achieving a dynamic balance between improvisation and continuous revision. Huang Yuanqing's practice is rooted in the tradition of calligraphy, integrating seal carving, music, and other artistic forms. His works at times emphasize color and space, at other moments lean toward writing and graffiti, yet he has never abandoned calligraphic creation independent of his paintings. The result is a new form of abstract art that fuses various script styles as its structural backbone, with color and space as its flesh--achieving a cross-dimensional integration of two different art forms: painting and calligraphy.

About the Author

Born in Shanghai in 1963, Huang Yuanqing graduated from Shanghai University of Science and Technology in 1985 and studied at the Painting Department of Shanghai Normal University from 1987 to 1989. Over the past 30 years, his works have been invited to be exhibited in various museums around the world, including the National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai Contemporary Art Museum, Irish Contemporary Art Museum, and Korean National Museum of Modern Art. Since the 1990s, Huang Yuanqing has attempted to understand the intrinsic meaning of calligraphy from a modern perspective and incorporated calligraphy experience into abstract creations, using "writing" instead of "painting", and continuously exploring the expressive power of writing lines.