Page 245 - 第18屆大墩美展專輯電子書

Juror's Statement, Calligraphy Category Chen, Wei-Teh

Calligraphy is such a unique Chinese cultural invention. While it used to be a means of displaying text, over time it has become an amazing art form.
Calligraphy possesses most of the elements that other categories of art offer color, outlines, forms, space and brushstrokes, for example. It is an art that
not only demands a high skill level but also a grasp of Chinese cultural philosophy.
Ancient philosopher Laozi said that without nothingness you cannot have existence. I think this theory has a deep meaning. If we view calligraphy
on this basis, then the outline of each word represents the part that people can actually see and feel, making it easy for most to grasp. By contrast, the
underlying meaning and philosophy of calligraphy is something you cannot see, although this part offers benefits, too. People usually respond to the parts

they can easily see and understand. As Tang dynasty calligrapher Zhang Huaiguan noted in his book The Words :
People usually find things interesting from the surface. However, the vital value of things is always hidden in the details. This is normally ignored by
most people. How many of us really manage to notice the deeper meaning of things? Only people who have wise vision and a unique understanding can
manage to see the hidden parts of things.

As he also pointed out, Wise people read the spirit of words, not the shapes.
This underlines the point that anyone wanting to understand the underlying meaning of calligraphy art must spend a long time learning its philosophy.
Time brings people a greater comprehension and creativity.
The exhibition curator the Taichung Cultural Affairs Bureau aims to provide a positive cultural influence and over the decades has invested time
and money to organize and host cultural events, helping to encourage residents interest in culture. We have all witnessed the bureau s great efforts as it
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has truly provided the people with many brilliant events. The Da Dun Fine Arts Exhibition of Taichung City is a perfect example. This is the 18 year for
this international exhibition and we should take pride in the curator s broad vision, which has made it so influential to our local culture. They deserve our
applause !
This year we received a large number of artwork submissions, something that I believe is due a greater interest in calligraphy art. Calligraphy is
an essential subject in Taiwanese elementary education and its lessons are becoming more interesting and innovative as supporters of this art form insist
on maintaining this part of our culture. Not only is local education focused on calligraphy, as activities overseas are also playing an important role in its
development. For example, there are many events that offer opportunities for local calligraphers to exchange their experiences with artists from China.
Taiwan should work harder to preserve its leading position in calligraphy art, as I have noticed that the entire field is not as good as it used to be. The
government should also do its best help to maintain Taiwan as calligraphy innovator and leader.
The five jurors spent a lot of time reviewing submissions during each stage of judging. There were a total of 117 submitted pieces, of which only
17 were chosen for the final review, which took place a month after the preliminary review. The jurors considered the original works in this final stage in
order to select the most worthy pieces. Besides the first, second and third prizes another three works earned an Award of Merit. Due to a limited number of
awards, the remaining 11 submissions were unfortunately unable to receive any special recognition.

The First Prize winner is A Poem by Liu Tsang by Wu Fu-Yuan. Wu is a familiar face in the calligraphy art world and demonstrates excellent
control of his wool brush, a very difficult skill. He possesses great skill in presenting ink work and understands the use of soft and hard strokes while
painting. From his work, we can see that he also knows the importance of speed when creating calligraphy being neither too fast nor too slow. His work

therefore shows an unexpected, interesting outcome. An old theory holds that, Soft brushes bring out strange brush-strokes. Although Wu used soft
brushes, his piece has excellent composition and avoids any incongruous effects. Everything seems to have been arranged very well in his work.

The Second Prize work is A poem by Lu Yu, Clerical Script by Shen Ko-Chang. This piece presents a sense of natural aesthetics, combining
different script styles with the artist s own particular style that was inspired by the Southern and Northern dynasty period. Adding elements of ancient
skills and styles to his calligraphy piece has created a very elegant work.
The Third Prize was awarded to Couplet of the Dai-Ri Hall, Zhang Dan Shu by Wu Chi-Tsung. The artist has spent a long time practicing with

the Xiao-zhuan script. Therefore, his work presents a simple, but natural, style with its content based on a couplet. The artist blended his own style with
elements from ancient compositions. For example, the word sizes and margins for each character were laid-out very well.
Other calligraphers also submitted fantastic works. However, they should not be concerned about whether they received awards or not, as this is not
the most important part of the competition. As long as they can stay humble and practice more, I believe they will receive their just reward one day!
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