Samuel P. Harn Museum, University of Florida, on long-term loan to permanent collection from 2004 - 2007
Literature
R. Morgan, The Gesture: Movement in Painting and Sculpture, New York, 2002, pp. 30-31 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
My work is concerned with Chinese calligraphy or Chinese words. This interest began in 1982. The first seal I carved consisted of two fake characters. At this time, I was studying the language of philosophy from Russell and Wittgenstein. This coincided with my study of seal script. Seal script is an ancient form of writing that isn't used today; you can't understand it at all. So I thought of the seal script as a fake language. I became really interested in Wittgenstein's theory of the mystery of the universe that cannot be described by language. The other influential factor was the Cultural Revolution, when I was a red guard and painted slogans because I had painting skills. I still believe that modern calligraphy was produced during the Cultural Revolution after the Communist Party.
W. Gu, in an interview with Melissa Chiu, “The Crisis of Calligraphy and the New Way of Tea,” January 4, 2002, at http://www.wendagu.com/home.html