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Xu Bing: calligraphy, language and interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2005

COLLETTE CHATTOPADHYAY
COLLETTE CHATTOPADHYAY
Affiliation:
Contemporary art critic, lecturer, and curator living in Los Angeles.
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Abstract

Radical departures in English in the work of a Chinese calligrapher. Challenging conventional assumptions regarding the use of language, Xu Bing's calligraphic artworks of the early 1990s address the English-speaking world from a space deep within the bedrock of Chinese culture. Ironically extending and querying the continued relevance of the Chinese calligraphic tradition in a post-Mao, post-modern, trans-cultural era, Xu's New English Calligraphy cloaks English words in Chinese form. Exploring the communicative functions of language, these works examine the relation between linguistic intent and subsequent understanding or misunderstanding.

Type
Original Article
Information
English Today , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 2005 , pp. 5 - 10
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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