Artist Wang Shaoqiang explores writing in a new Beijing exhibition

Wang Shaoqiang, artist and director of the Guangzhou-based Guangdong Museum of Art, is known for his minimalist landscapes, where fine seemingly erratic lines and softly smudged colors create a mood of detachment.

His current exhibition in Beijing, Thick Earth, Fluent Light, reveals a different direction in his work, an exploration of writing through ink art. The exhibition is on at the Ink Studio until May 31.

At first sight, one might mistake the works for calligraphy, as they are all handwritten characters. However, the exhibition's curator, Craig L. Yee, says that Wang's creations are not calligraphic works in the traditional sense, nor do they focus on calligraphic techniques.

Instead, Wang emphasizes the texts and their cultural contexts using bold brushstrokes, so it is more accurate to describe his work as shuxie, or writing as an art form.

Wang has used classical texts from both ancient China and the West, with some pieces featuring English translations that have been added with the help of artificial intelligence. He is using shuxie as a two-way channel to communicate with his audience in the East and the West about the similarities and differences between the two cultures.