Yekaterinburg will soon see extracts by Russian poets in Chinese – the Museum of Fine Arts is gearing up to open an exhibition featuring paintings by the Celestial Empire artists. Masterpieces by Liu Jung-Sheng, who is a guest expert, will form the centrepiece of the exhibit.
As if touched with a wand, or in this particular case, a brush, delicate black lines emerge on rice paper. The symbols may seem odd at first, yet this writing says «understanding between the Russians and the Chinese».
Liu's tool to write characters is special: bamboo handle, cow horn holder and tip made of bear and buck fleece to achieve the required stiffness through more or less pressure. The artist explains that the piece can be split into three parts, where the large characters convey the message; smaller images serve as comments to translate the date and location of the piece; and the artist's personal seal as the finishing touch, a sort of charm that is key to creativity.
“I have come over here to let the Russians know more about our culture”, says Liu Jung-Sheng, calligraphy artist (China). “The exhibition will give a start to strengthen the cooperation between our countries. The ultimate intent is to keep peace at all times – this character has not been written yet but I will certainly produce one for the exhibition”.
Jung-Sheng took to doing calligraphy when he was a child, learning from renowned Chinese artists’ works. Today his own masterpieces become the gold standard. Usually the artists employ quotes by prominent figures, such as Confusius, as a basis for their works, yet Liu resorted to Ivan Turgenev and brought his quotes to Russia:
“Our life is quick and futile, yet all the greatness is accomplished through people. Conscious being of the supreme forces’ tool shall supersede any other human pleasure”.
The canvas will be put on display on the exhibition to open in April next year in Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts. Its organizers, including the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, are intended to engage more calligraphy experts.
“Guest calligraphy artists will demonstrate what it is to the audience through workshops, talks and classes”, comments Nikita Korytin, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Yekaterinburg. “We are also keen to engage not only Chinese artists but those practicing Latin and Cyrillic based calligraphy”.
As Liu Jung-Sheng is preparing his works, they will be exhibited in the Museum of Fine Arts. He brought some of them over, while more are being commissioned now. One of the first characters the artist has written was “piece” to symbolize the unity between the two nations.
By Mikhail Yakunin
Source: www.obltv.ru