Alisan Fine Arts is pleased to present Word Play: New York, a companion exhibition to our current exhibition at our Central Hong Kong location. Centered around the expression, investigation and deconstruction of Chinese characters, we will feature works by 6 artists across different generations: Cui Fei, Hung Keung, Chiu Li, Wang Dongling, Wang Tiande and Wei Ligang. The written word - long considered the essence of Chinese culture - continues to serve as the point of departure for both faithful emulation and radical innovation in contemporary art.

Based in New York, Cui Fei is well known for her work that uses natural materials (thorns, grape vine tendrils) to emulate calligraphic writing. Hong Kong-based Hung Keung is known for his interactive installations that integrate film, video and digital new media with classical Chinese themes of philosophy, art and literature, with innovative installations that employ imagery of Chinese characters, ink, rice paper, and flowers. Born in Hong Kong, Chiu Li’s work blends Western design principles with traditional Chinese aesthetics, exploring the intersections of painting, calligraphy, and poetry. Wang Dongling is celebrated around the world for his large-scale abstract “calligraphic paintings.” Wang experiments with ways in which the calligraphic stroke might be liberated from the conveyance of meaning, using the line as a form of expression. The act of his painting became a physical performance in which Wang translates the text of ancient Chinese poems with gestural interpretations of traditional characters.

Wang Tiande is an innovative avant-garde ink artist known for his creative use of incense sticks as a form of brush. Well versed in traditional Chinese art and culture, Wang searches for further possibilities in the realm of ink art, transforming paintings of traditional landscapes and calligraphy while conveying the ephemeral quality of painting. Originally trained in mathematics and Chinese calligraphy, Wei Ligang takes an analytical approach to revolutionize traditional calligraphy. Initially playing within traditional rules and structures of classic calligraphy, Wei has since pushed past textual playfulness into a purely abstract form. He aims to develop “writing” (shuxie) into an art form capable of embodying all phenomena and things in the universe and a way to construct “pure structure itself.”