Wenda Gu (b. 1955)

Gu Wenda is very comfortable using the Ink and wash form of artistic expression, whereby large pseudo-characters are set against an abstract ink and wash background. His bold and powerful brushstrokes and the misplaced character structures announce that traditional calligraphy has dislodged Chinese ink and wash aestheticism from its hitherto accepted philological definition. Gu Wenda learned his fundamental calligraphy and Landscape painting skills at the hands of Mr. Lu Yanshao. The visual impact created by outsised characters, saturated in ink, together with the varying shades of light and dark; resulting from the reciprocal action between water and ink; is directly responsible for the illegibility of these pseudo-characters, for it is here that the pure concept of contemporary ink and wash finds emphasis. Gu Wenda's desire to combine and unify written characters and aestheticism, together with his audacious and uninhibited expression, have enabled him to successfully shock the western art world by means of Chinese traditional ink painting.