Email of the writer: jw368@163.com
Meet a bizarre master calligrapher, who is reducing Chinese calligraphy, one of China’s cultural treasures, to a grandstanding and gaudy show.
A video that went viral online shows a man demonstrating his “extraordinary” mastery of calligraphic art. Sitting on the floor, he was wielding his writing brush on a huge paper scroll held and moved by a young girl. The weirdest part of the show was that instead of focusing on what he is writing, he kept sitting with his back to the paper, never looking at his “work.”
What did his “masterpiece” look like? Well, even a doodle was an overstatement, as a scribble made by a toddler might be at least legible as meaningful characters, but this clown’s work was nothing but amorphous blobs of ink.
He was seen in some other videos to be writing his brush on the white robes or the faces of young women, still “blindly.”
The videos sparked outrage among viewers, many of whom called his show “monkey business” and condemned him for defiling sacred culture.
The performer was later identified as a professor, surnamed Zhang, at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. His profile shows that he boasts a number of shiny titles and honors, including director of the Contemporary Visual Art Center with a Chongqing-based research center, and a visiting professor at Winchester School of Art, U.K.
Wondering if Professor Zhang is capable of writing a good hand besides his promotional gimmicks, I searched online trying to find some of his serious works of calligraphy, in vain. Instead, I saw an abundance of references on his publications on “arts.”
In one of his books, he dwells on his “art” of creating a new type of calligraphy. It is completed with the assistance of young girls of different nationalities, races, professions and statuses, with the girls controlling the paper and the “creation process” and himself holding the brush. Zhang himself named his “art” “performance calligraphy.” “My biggest interest in art is to pursue pure calligraphy without any control,” he argued.
In response to the public criticism, he defended himself saying that the common folks can hardly understand what a genius created and his art is too profound to impart to others. Well, it sounded like what the bogus tailors said to the king when they were bragging about their invisible clothes.
The con artist has a horde of “brothers and cousins.” Another viral video showed a “calligrapher” “writing” with a syringe, spewing ink onto a piece of paper. Again, despite the creator’s burlesque performance, his work was but a random scratch of ink lines.
As if to compete for the title of “the Funniest Clown Artist,” some other “calligraphers” staged even crazier performances. One white-haired “master” inserted two writing brushes into both of his nostrils to write on the paper.
Some others are more of acrobats than calligraphers. A couple of long-haired men used their long hair as brushes. But they were put to shame by another man, whose tool was a young lady wrapped in a white piece of cloth. The girl was held upside down by two men and the “artist” soaked the girl’s hair in the ink and began “writing” on the paper.
I’m not against any innovation. In fact, I am a fervent supporter of creativity and innovation, for I’m fully convinced that the vigor of any form of arts lies in constant innovation.
Innovation in science, technology or economy means new idea, method or device, anything that brings better efficiency, but innovation in art is different. One mustn’t interpret or transform art at will. The original form and essence of a certain form of art must be respected and followed. Reform and evolution are always encouraged. In fact, Chinese calligraphy has been in constant change since its birth until it is presented in a variety of types nowadays.
Under no circumstance, however, can we call a wild scrawl calligraphy or art. Those fake artists can call themselves performers, but not artists. The only purpose of these low-brow shows is to draw attention and to hoax audience to buy their garbage.
The authorities should do something to crack down on rampant swindlers of all sorts.
(The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.)