WANG Dongling

王冬齡

works in Hangzhou (b.1945, Jiangsu)

Wang Dongling is currently Professor in the Calligraphy Department of the China Academy of Art (CAA), and Director of CAA’s Contemporary Calligraphy Research Centre.

Wang’s work has been featured in numerous museum exhibitions internationally, including ‘China: Five Thousand Years’ (1998), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; ‘Brushes with Surprise: The Art of Calligraphy in Modern China’ (2002), British Museum, London; ‘Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing’ (2006), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; ‘Lanting Pavilion Review: China Calligraphy Exhibition’ (2010), Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussel.

His recent solo exhibitions include “Wang Dongling”, The Art Institute of Chicago (2018); ‘Wang Dongling: The Bamboo Path’, OCAT Shenzhen (2017); ‘Between Heaven and Heart: Wang Dongling’s Calligraphy’, Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum, Beijing (2016).

Wang Dongling’s calligraphy public performances have been acclaimed internationally, and have taken place at a number of major institutions, including Abu Dhabi Art (2016); British Museum, London (2016); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2016); Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum, Beijing (2016); Vancouver Art Gallery (2016); Brooklyn Museum, New York (2015); Universität Hamburg, Germany (2015); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2014); City University of Hong Kong (2013); Hong Kong Museum of Art (2013), etc.

In 2014, the Apple Computer company commissioned Wang Dongling’s monumental calligraphy as a main image feature of the Apple Store in Hangzhou China. In 2016, Apple Computer’s new i-Pencil on iPad Pro was launched with Wang’s calligraphy.

Wang Dongling has expanded the ground for ‘modern calligraphy’ and transformed traditional elements, making them sympathetic with contemporary experience. What Wang Dongling has achieved with his monumental calligraphy is more than a technical breakthrough; he has galvanized the visual experience of calligraphy and reconstructed its image as a form of ‘contemporary’ art.

1945	Born in Rudong, Jiangsu Province, China
1966	Graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Nanjing Normal College (now Nanjing Normal University)
1981	Graduated from the first calligraphy postgraduate class at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art) with a Master of Arts degree, and remained as a faculty member
Present	Director of the Modern Calligraphy Research Center, Professor, and Doctoral Advisor at the China Academy of Art
	Works and resides in Hangzhou, China

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024	Pilgrim to Tianjin: Wang Dongling’s Calligraphy Works, Tianjin Art Museum, China
	Flying Flowers and Scattered Snow : A Performance of Calligraphy by Wang Dongling, Harvard Art Museums, USA
2023	Wang Dongling: Ink. Space. Time. The Heong Gallery, Downing College, University of Cambridge, UK
	Wang Dongling: Entangled Energies, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
2021	From Inception: Wang Dongling 60 Years of Calligraphy, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2019	“Free and Easy Wandering”, Public calligraphy performance, Ink Masters program, National Gallery Singapore
2017	Poetic Rainbow: The Calligraphy of Wang Dongling, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
	Wang Dongling: The Bamboo Path, OCAT Shenzhen, China
	Between Heaven and Heart, Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Wang Dongling: Contemporary Calligraphy, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
	Public performance of Chaos-Script Heart Sutra, Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada
	Public performance of Chaos-Script Heart Sutra, Library and Archives Canada
	Public performance of Chaos-Script Heart Sutra, The British Museum, London, UK
	Public performance of Chaos-Script Dao De Jing, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London, UK
	Public performance of Chaos-Script Dunhuang Lyrics, Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum, Beijing, China
2015	Drinking on the Lake: First Sunny then Rainy (No. 2) by Su Shi public calligraphy performance, Apple Store West Lake, Hangzhou, China
	Writing Non-Writing: Calligraphic Works by Wang Dongling, Sanshang Contemporary Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
	Wang Dongling·The Heart Sutra, Wenzhou Contemporary Art Museum, China
	The Heart Sutra in Chaos Script,public calligraphy performance, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
	Free and Easy Wandering Public Wall-Writing performance, Universität Hamburg, Germany
2014	Beside the Ancient Road, Jinwan Faculty of Humanities of Tianjin Water Park, China
	The Moon over the River on a Spring Night: The Art of Calligraphy by Wang Dongling, Hong Kong Museum of Art
	The Way Follows Nature: Public performance of monumental cursive-script calligraphy, Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA
2013	Wang Dongling: Brushing the Ties, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
	The Moon over the River on a Spring Night, Wang Dongling Public Performance of Calligraphy, Hong Kong Museum of Art
2012	Decanter Ink: Hangzhou Cross-year Exhibition — Wang Dongling Solo Exhibition, Sanshang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2011	Wang Dongling: The Daoism of Calligraphy, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2007	Share the Peripatericism: Calligraphy Exhibition by Wang Dongling, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing
2006	“Preface to the Riverside Gathering” (Linhe Xu), public calligraphy performance, Lanting International Calligraphy Festival, Shaoxing, China
2003	Calligraphy by Wang Dongling, Yilanzhai Art Museum, Nanjing, China
	Calligraphy by Wang Dongling, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
2001	Calligraphy of Wang Dongling, Lanting International Calligraphy Festival, Shaoxing Museum, China
1999	Calligraphy of Wang Dongling, Shenzhen Art Museum, China
	Muthesius Hochschule & Polytechnic School for Art, Kiel, Germany
1994	Wang Dongling: Calligraphy and Painting, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing
1993	International Press, Tokyo, Japan
1992	Minnesota State Exhibition Center, Minneapolis, USA
1991	University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
	North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, USA
1990	University of Minnesota, St. Paul, USA
	Université de Montréal, Canada
1989	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
	University of Kansas, Kansas, USA
	University of Minnesota, St. Paul, USA
	Art School of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, USA
1987	Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now CAA), Hangzhou, China
	Calligraphy Exhibition of Wang Dongling, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026	The 61st Venice Biennale — China Pavilion, Venice, Italy
2025	Line, Form, Qi: Calligraphic Art from the Fondation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), USA
	Journey from the Wilderness: Contemporary Chinese Character Art Exhibition, Shenzhen Art Museum, China
2024	1985-2024: Forty Years of Contemporary Ink in China, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts / Xinjiang Art Museum, China
2023	Gaze of Time — OCAT 18th Anniversary Collections Exhibition in Guangming, Art Museum of Guangming Culture and Art Center, Shenzhen, China
	Time Gravity-2023 Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu Museum of Art, China
	BEYOND 2003-2023, Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2022	The Mountain of the Endless: Chinese Ink Yearbook Exhibition, An Art Museum at New Everbright Center, Beijing, China
	The Innovation of Ink: Transformation and Reinvention of Oriental Aesthetics, Sands Gallery, Macao
2021	Flying Ink, Hengshan Calligraphy Art Center, Taiwan
2020	The Illustrated Word: Artwork Inspired by Calligraphy (Asia Art Week New York Special Presentation), Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
	Landscapes and Books, Pearl Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2019	In Ink: Current Trends of Ink Art, NanHai Art, San Francisco, USA
2018	New Ink Art in China 1978-2018, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
	Boundary of Freedom, Fifth Found—Chinese Contemporary Ink World Tour, Taihe Art Gallery, Beijing, China
	Mind Temple, Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Shanghai, China
2017	Boundless: On Going Chinese Ink Art, Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
	The Unusual West Lake: The First Art Scene of West Lake Photo Exhibition, Art Museum of China academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
2016	Open Books: International Artists Explore the Chinese Folding Book, Library and Archives Canada, Vancouver, Canada
	Shan Shui A Manifesta, Gongwang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
	Shan Shui Within, Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Shanghai, China
2015	Sacred Mountain: Art Basel — Hanart TZ Gallery Project II, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
	Hangzhou International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition and Writing Nor-writing Document Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art of CAA, Hangzhou, China
2014	Guanshan Gathering: Works by Zheng Shengtian and Wang Dongling, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
	Orchid Pavilion Calligraphy Bienniale, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2013	Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
	Between Character and Calligraphy: OCAT Xi’an Pavilion Opening Exhibition, OCAT Xi’an, China
	Ink Documentation: China-Korea Contemporary Ink Invitational Exhibition, Nanjing, China; Jeju, South Korea
	Guanshan Gathering: Works by Zheng Shengtian and Wang Dongling, Chambers Fine Art, Beijing, China
	Dialogue in Calligraphy: Special Exhibition of Wang Dongling and Samir Al Sayegh, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2012	Images and Words: Since Magritte Era, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
	Inner and Outer Transformation: A View on Chinese Contemporary Art, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey
	Textual Logic: Works by Wang Dongling, Qiu Zhenzhong and Xu Bing, OCAT Shenzhen / He Xiangning Art Museum, China
2011	International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, Wiesbaden International Arts Festival, Badenand Hamburg, Germany
	Hollow Stroke Style: Dimension of Chinese Character,Chengdu Biennial Special Invitation Exhibition, Chengdu, China
2010	Lanting Pavilion Review: China Calligraphy Exhibition, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
	Calligraphy and non-Calligraphy: 2010 Hangzhou International Modern Calligraphy Art Exhibition, China Academy of Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
	Beauty of Chinese Characters: Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France
	Trace and Qualitative Leap: Beijing Film Academy’s 60th Anniversary Exhibition, Beijing Film Academy 4 ° Space Gallery, Beijing, China
2009	Black and White Image — Wang Dongling & Joao Carlos Almeida, Museu do Oriente, Lisbon, Portugal
	The Orchid Pavilion: The Art of Writing in China (Europalia China Art Festival), Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
	The 1st Linzhou Ink Brush Biennale (International), Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, China
2008	Seoul Calligraphy Biennale, Seoul, South Korea
	The 6th Shenzhen International Ink Brush Painting Biennale—Ink · City, Exhibition, Shenzhen Art Academy, China
2007	Solo Happiness & Group Happiness-Public Art Exhibition of China Academy of Art, Sino-Japanese Friendship Museum, Tokyo, Japan
	Reboot: The 3rd Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu, China
	Opening Fun — International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
	Made in China: Contemporary Art Exhibition, Louisiana Art Museum, Louisiana, Denmark
2006	Calligraphy Night on the Christmas Eve, Hangzhou, China
	Brush and Ink – The Art of Writing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
	A Yellow Box in Qingpu – Contemporary Art and Architecture in a Chinese space, Xiao Ximen (Minor West Gate), Qingpu Town, Shanghai, China
	International Calligraphy Exhibition in Memory of the 300th Issue of Calligraphy Magazine, Seoul, South Korea
2005	Word Is Not Word: The Open Calligraphy Space – International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, West Lake Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
	The 1st International Cursive Script Exhibition, West Lake Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
	International Calligraphy Exhibition,World Exposition, Nagoya, Japan
	The 1st Nomination Exhibition of The Works of Contemporary Celebrities, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing
	National Nomination Exhibition of The Works of Chinese Celebrities, Museum of The Forbidden City, Beijing, China
	Inside & Outside-Calligraphy Exhibition of Chinese and American Artists, Shenzhen, China
	Spread of Ink- Seoul Calligraphy Biennial 2005, Seoul, South Korea
2004	Maze – The 2nd National Media Art Exhibition, Hangzhou, China
	International Invitation Exhibition of the Ink Color in The E-era, Taiwan; Berlin, Germany
	The 8th National Calligraphy and Seal Exhibition, Shaanxi Art Museum, China
	Invitation Exhibition of The Works of Contemporary Chinese Artists, Nanjing Museum, China
2003	Edge of The Earth- Asian Contemporary Art Invitation Exhibition, China Academy of Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
	Calligraphy Exhibition, Asia-Australia Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia
	International Calligraphy Biennial, Chonju, South Korea
	The 1st Exhibition of The Works of Chinese Leading Calligraphers, Tokyo, Japan
2002	Silent Music: Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, London, UK
	Sino-Japanese Calligraphy Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan; Beijing, China
	Modern Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Denver Asian Center, USA
	Brushes with Surprise: The Art of Calligraphy in Modern China, The British Museum, London, UK
2001	Exhibition of The Works of Contemporary Chinese Artists, Shanghai, China
	Exchange Exhibition of Calligraphy between Mainland China and Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan
	Borderless China-Exhibition of Chinese Paintings, Sotheby’s, New York, USA
	Spirit of Ink & Brush-Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Seoul, South Korea
	International Exhibition of Abstract Ink Color, Xi’an, China
2000	Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Hong Kong
	Gate of The Century – Invitation Exhibition of Art, Chengdu Museum of Modern Art, China
1999	46 Contemporary Chinese Artists Works Exhibition, Shanghai, China; Melbourne, Australia
	Grand Exhibition of Chinese Calligraphy in The 20th Century, Tokyo, Japan
	Exhibition of Modern Words Art, Seoul, South Korea
1998	Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Paris, France
	Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy & Paintings, Malmö Konsthall Gallery, Sweden
	Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Columbia University, New York, USA
	Chinese Art & Civilization of Five Thousand Years, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
1997	Calligraphy Exhibition of the 21st Century, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing
1995	International Modern Calligraphy Biennale, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou
1994	Modern Calligraphy Exploration Exhibition, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing
1993	Chinese Seal Exhibition, Yale University, New Haven, USA
1992	The 2nd International Art Exposition, Miami, USA
1991	Chinese Art and the West-Chinese Art Exhibition, San Diego, USA
1990	Brush Dancing & Ink Singing-Exhibition of the Paintings Collected by British Museum, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
1988	Paper Art from Hangzhou, Hamburg, Germany
1987	Lanting Sino-Japanese Calligraphy Exhibition, Shaoxing, China
	Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy, Taipei, Taiwan