Vital Energy: Wang Dongling and Xu Longsen

The concept of ‘vital line’ runs through both Chinese philosophy and traditional science; the medical merit of engaging acupuncture lines is a well-known example.

In the understanding of natural geography, vital lines are observed to form the moving spirit of landscapes. Under this principle, the art of painting and calligraphy regards the spontaneous flow of lines to be of pivotal importance for aesthetics.

For our booth at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair, Hanart TZ Gallery has curated a special exhibition featuring the work of two powerful Chinese contemporary artists: monumental and delicate ink landscapes by the master painter XU Longsen and works by eminent calligraphy painter WANG Dongling.

Additionally, Wang Dongling is being invited to undertake a live calligraphy performance at the ‘Beyond’ sector of the Abu Dhabi Art Fair on Wednesday 16^th November from 6.30 to 7.30pm. The painting will be displayed at the fair after the performance, and will be the first performance and exhibition of the artist’s calligraphy work in the United Arab Emirates.

Xu Longsen’s monumental landscape folding screen Thousand Mountains will also be featured in a special installation in the ‘Beyond’ sector of the Abu Dhabi Art fair. This is the second exhibition of Xu Longsen’s monumental landscapes in the United Arab Emirates. Xu’s previous show at Abu Dhabi Art received much acclaim and we are pleased to present his newest paintings to audiences this year.

XU Longsen (b.1956, Shanghai, China)

Image Courtesy of the Artist

Xu Longsen’s art underscores the continued relevance of shanshui (Chinese landscape) painting in the contemporary world, and the monumentality and layered delicacy of his vistas offer a new realm of encounter for a contemporary audience.

Xu Longsen’s landscapes challenge the monumentality of modern architecture with their imposing presences. His monumental installations, recently shown at the Museum of Roman Civilization in Italy and the Palace of Justice in Belgium, astonished viewers with their breathtaking effects that seem to challenge the edifices of architecture with natural peaks that burst through the confines of manmade space. The sublimity hinted at by Chinese classical landscapes here manifests itself in physical presence.

Xu’s art is both a radical departure from, and an homage to, the past. His position within the lineage of this important tradition was recognized in the invitation by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in 2013 when he was invited to exhibit his immense horizontal landscape together with the museum’s famous collection of masterwork paintings from the 10^th to 18^th century.

In 2015, The Invincible Mountains and The Dynamic Forest, the two breathtaking monumental ink landscape scrolls each measuring 5.4 meters high, were featured in a special installation in the ‘Beyond’ sector of Abu Dhabi Art.

This year, from June – September 2016, Wang Dongling and Xu Longsen took part in the international triennial in Slovenia, ‘Beyond the Globe: 8th Triennial of Contemporary Art U-3’, in the special project ‘Yaji Garden: Art Under the Sky’ curated by Chang Tsong-Zung and Gao Shiming.

WANG Dongling (b. 1945, Jiangsu province, China)

Image Courtesy of the Artist

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; and ‘Beyond the Globe, 8^th Triennial of Contemporary Art-U3’ (2016), MG+MSUM, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

His recent solo exhibitions include ‘Wang Dongling: Contemporary Calligraphy’ (2016), Gus Fisher Gallery, New Zealand; ‘Wang Dongling: The Daoism of Calligraphy’ (2011), Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China; and ‘Share the Peripatericism: Calligraphy Exhibition by Wang Dongling’ (2007), National Art Museum of China, Beijing.

Wang Dongling’s calligraphy public performances have been acclaimed internationally, and have taken place at a number of major institutions, including Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (2014); Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Sweden (2014); Universität Hamburg, Germany (2015); Brooklyn Museum, New York (2015); and Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum, Beijing (2016).

Wang Dongling has expanded the grounds for ‘modern calligraphy’ and transformed traditional elements that are sympathetic to 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.

In 2014, 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.

This year, from June – September 2016, Wang Dongling and Xu Longsen took part in the international triennial in Slovenia, ‘Beyond the Globe: 8th Triennial of Contemporary Art U-3’, in the special project ‘Yaji Garden: Art Under the Sky’ curated by Chang Tsong-Zung and Gao Shiming.