The Inventive Brush: Calligraphic Echoes from China, Japan, and Korea

Friday, July 19, 2024 2:00 PM 14:00
Friday, December 13, 2024 5:00 PM 17:00

Pao Arts Center 99 Albany Street Boston, MA, 02111 United States (map)

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The Inventive Brush: Calligraphic Echoes from China, Japan, and Korea, curated by Professor Aida Yuen Wong, showcases the diversity of contemporary calligraphy; it features the works of three Massachusetts-based artists, Mike Yuguo Mei, Michiko Imai, and YoungSun Jang.

Calligraphy has long been a revered art form in East Asian traditions and remains an integral part of East Asian and East Asian diaspora cultures. Each of the featured calligraphers are masters in their own artforms and have blended their classical training with innovation to create their own unique artistic styles. By presenting these works in a unified setting, audiences can explore the works as more than words and characters but as contemporary interpretations beyond the respective countries of the artists.

The Inventive Brush: Calligraphic Echoes from China, Japan, and Korea is a collaboration between the Pao Arts Center, the Japan Society of Boston, and the Korean Cultural Society of Boston.

Join us on Friday, July 19 at 6:00 PM for an opening reception featuring an artist discussion moderated by the exhibit curator.

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Meet the artists

Mike Yuguo Mei 梅宇國

Mike Yuguo Mei is a senior member of the Boston Chinese art community. His mastery of the principal script types, from the seal script to the clerical and cursive scripts, provides a glimpse into the rich foundation of East Asian calligraphy. His energetic strokes and creative renderings of classical scripts convey a rebellious spirit.

Michiko Imai 今井美智子

Michiko Imai began studying calligraphy in Japan with a focus on Chinese characters (kanji). Her repertoire also includes Japanese kana syllables (often mixed with kanji) written on decorated paper, a tradition dating back to the Heian period (794-1185). An expert in scroll mounting, she views the borders around the work as integral to the overall composition.

YoungSun Jang 장영선

Youngsun Jang, before relocating to the United States from South Korea, taught calligraphy at the university level and completed academic training in both Korea and China. His experimental approach involves utilizing the Korean alphabet, Hanguel (created in the 15th century), and deconstructing it. His calligraphy challenges traditional ways of reading and offers new perspectives. The deliberately confounding aesthetic invites viewers to find their own meaning.

About the Curator

Aida Yuen Wong 阮圓

Aida Yuen Wong is Nathan Cummings and Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Professor in Fine Arts and the Head of the Division of the Creative Arts at Brandeis University. She has written extensively on transcultural modernisms. Among Professor Wong’s publications are *Parting the Mists: Discovering Japan and the Rise of National-Style Painting in Modern China* (2006); *Visualizing Beauty: Gender and Ideology in East Asia* (2012); *The Other Kang Youwei: Calligraphy, Art Activist and Aesthetic Reform in Modern China* (2016); *Fashion, Identity and Power in Modern Asia* (2018); and *Seeing and Touching Gender: New Perspectives on Modern Chinese Art* (2020). Her books have been translated into Chinese and Korean.

About the Partners

Japan Society of Boston

The Japan Society of Boston, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote cultural and economic ties and active interchange between Japanese and Americans for mutual understanding, business exchange, social connection, and friendship. We serve as a programming nexus for individuals, institutions, and businesses linked together by a strong interest in Japan and a shared recognition of the importance of the U.S.-Japan relationship.

Korean Cultural Society of Boston

Founded in October, 2012, the Korean Cultural Society of Boston (KCSB) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and provides opportunities for the Greater Boston area to learn and engage with arts, culture, and heritage of Korea while simultaneously empowering and promoting the Korean American community.