Lampo Leong

Lampo Leong, an established internationally known artist, scholar and calligrapher, made the trek out from Missouri to give a lecture on his investigation of the “Omega Curve” and his extensive work in Calligraphy. Although Leong’s lecture focused on the curve as a symbol of the pervasive and enduring expression of grandeur and loftiness of nature and art, it was his explanation and demonstration of Calligraphy that captivated my attention. Leong eloquently creates beautiful pieces of Chinese calligraphy where the process is almost as beautiful as the final product.

Unfortunately, before I attended this lecture I expressed no interest in Asian art partially due to my incompetents in name pronunciation and partially due to my lack of background knowledge. However, Lamp Leong combines his highly sophisticated training in traditional painting with his heritage and love of Chinese calligraphy thus creating novel pieces of a hybrid artwork that have sparked my interest and awe. When posed with the questions “What does it say?” He shakes his head in disappointment. Leong claims focuses on the form, scale, shape, composition, unique style and spirit that the Calligraphy portrays rather than the literal translation of the text. Leong explains that Chinese calligraphy transcends the typical form of writing with a greater appreciation for the complexity of line more than any other region of the world. Leong criticized Pablo Picasso’s Woman with Yellow Hair for the line quality, lacking in strength, energy and spiritual quality. He acknowledges that Picasso is not known for his calligraphy but this simple comment emphasizes the years of practice and elite skill that are required to produce an element as simple as a line. This one component must create a three-dimensional space with thickness, layering, subtle curve and conveying the proper flow of the Qi or Chi; the closest translation in English being energy or spirit. Chinese calligraphy is a process that involves the mind, heart and hand in a matter of seconds. With no time to think, the true nature of the spirit and talent within the artists is revealed onto the paper in the raw. The artists must be caught up in the rapture in order to transfer the chi onto the paper with a stroke of rhythm and resilience in a movement. This elaborate process reallocates the practice of calligraphy into a category of its own; a combination of literary, visual and performance art.