XU BING

Of all the pieces at the Why Not Ink? show at the Today Art Museum, Xu Bing's calligraphy piece Ancient Air stood out to me. Xu Bing's quirky invention of his own English-Chinese characters was something that immediately caught my attention... Deciphering this 'new language' was heaps of fun! And it doesn't hurt that Xu Bing's invented characters are beautiful in their own right!

Xu Bing, Square word calligraphy “Ancient Air”, 2010, 69.5 x 316.5 cm

Ancient Air, Li Bai

I climb up high and look on the four seas,

Heaven and earth spreading out so far.

Frost blankets all the stuff of autumn,

The wind blows with the great desert’s cold.

The eastward-flowing water is immense,

All the ten thousand things billow.

The white sun’s passing brightness fades,

Floating clouds seem to have no end.

Swallows and sparrows nest in the wutong tree,

Yuan and luan birds perch among jujube thorns.

Now it’s time to head on back again,

I flick my sword and sing Taking the Hard Road.