Grace Y.T. Tong, Calligrapher
Calligraphy is an art of living, it should not be separated from our living environment. Perhaps due to this realization, Grace Tong became very interested in decoration and installation in her surroundings. She has the rare ability of putting several fun objects together to make living space more tasteful and interesting. She often places an odd stone or a few plants in her exhibition to enhance the beauty of calligraphy and to show the nature of calligraphy in daily life.
In recent years, the size of Grace’s works has become larger and larger. Her calligraphy has a powerful virile momentum; only in extremely large works can she fully express the vitality of the characters.
The size of characters is also relevant to the beauty of ink. When the characters are too large for the calligrapher to control the brush, then the beauty of the ink itself can be revealed.
Characters which are larger than one foot need arm force and physical strength to complete; the calligrapher cannot have perfect control. The tool will manifest its power only when people cannot fully control the situation. Grace’s calligraphy has elevated to a higher plane because of this.
Grace, knowingly or unknowingly, has made good use of the subtle power of brushes and ink.
The more techniques she masters in calligraphy, the more daring she becomes. Her calligraphy is truly “calligraphy-painting”. She does not care if viewers can recognize the characters in the painting. They have to rely on labels to read them. However, she is serious when she writes. She is in every way “writing” the characters not “drawing” the characters. It is not important to her whether her works are accepted as calligraphy. For her, it is enough to know that her attitude and techniques of writing are calligraphy. In fact, since grass style writing became popular, calligraphers have had the privilege to alter the form of characters. They no longer are concerned if the character is easily recognized.
The era of multiple values has arrived. For calligraphic art, we would like to see various styles and presentations. The new era of calligraphy can be divided at least into the following: ignoring the form of characters, writing only for the sake of art; writing first for communication, next for art; and the combination of form of characters and artistic style. The calligraphy of Grace Tong belongs to the first category. She has bravely broken the barrier on the forms of characters, and has opened a new page in the history of Chinese calligraphy. Although Grace Tong values very much the universality of the beauty of Chinese characters, what her works reveal is an artist who is free from mundane concerns.
(Translation based on The Calligrapher” by Han Pao-deh)