Calligrapher Zhang Jiaxuan. Picture source: Overseas Chinese News
Overseas Chinese News intern reporter Wu Zhaowen reported from New York on July 25: The China Institute recently held the "Blooming Seeds" biennial exhibition of calligraphy and painting works by teachers and students. Many excellent Chinese calligraphy works were written by native Americans, which astounded Chinese and foreign audiences. Zhang Jiaxuan, a Chinese calligraphy teacher at the Huamei Association, shared with the audience his experience of teaching Chinese calligraphy art for many years on the 25th.
Zhang Jiaxuan said that most of the students who come to the China Artists Association to study Chinese calligraphy do not understand Chinese. The "Six Books" mentions that Chinese characters pay attention to the methods of character creation, that is, "pictograms, meanings, and meanings." , phonetic, transfer, and borrowing." Zhang Jiaxuan will first teach these foreign students the pronunciation of Chinese characters, and then explain their meaning, structure and stroke order. Zhang Jiaxuan said that Chinese calligraphy pays attention to the overall structure of Chinese characters. I sometimes joke with my students that when practicing Chinese calligraphy, we must consider the overall structure of Chinese characters. Individualism and libertarianism must be avoided, and collectivism is the only choice.
Zhang Jiaxuan believes that Chinese calligraphy has two "happy accidents". One is that the structure of Chinese characters is complex and therefore malleable. Second, the Chinese calligraphy tools of pen, ink, paper, and inkstone are really the most perfect combination. The brush can be thick or thin, hard or soft, and the charm expressed by the ink mark and the flying white is naturally different. It is just like when we play music, it is the gradual and changing rhythm and rhythm that make it beautiful. The realization of this kind of beauty is unique to human society, and art lovers in both East and West can understand it.
Regarding the postmodernist style in the calligraphy works of many domestic calligraphers, Zhang Jiaxuan has a calm and critical attitude. He said, "Chinese calligraphy is a plastic art. The edges and corners of Chinese characters are like human shoulders. Showing strength. If the structural strokes are completely unclear, it is not Chinese calligraphy.”
Danjik, a well-known American art professor who has written extensively and won many awards, praised Zhang Jiaxuan’s calligraphy. Zhang Jiaxuan's calligraphy works are also included in the newly published book "Hundred New York Calligraphers".