Calligrapher enjoys brush with greatness

Growing up in the southern part of the country, Chen has lived in the north for years. He received a master's degree in calligraphy at the China National Academy of Arts and now teaches there.

He says the many years spent in Beijing and the expansive north "have rendered to his strokes the depths of history and a sense of extensiveness".

His accomplishments are grounded in years of hard work. "If someone truly wants to be a professional in the field," Chen says, "they should at least practice eight hours a day. I sometimes practice much longer than that, and for the rest of the day, I write and read about calligraphy, or articles on the relationship between calligraphy and other forms of Chinese art."

Liu Heng, a noted scholar of the China Calligraphers Association, says the solid discipline of calligraphy has enabled Chen to achieve a technical brilliance, which is visible in his copies of the calligraphic masterpieces on show, but he is far from being content with copying the styles of those great artists, and exhibiting them everywhere.

"He has been trying to establish his own style, and he has done it. The exhibition shows that process of artistic maturity," Liu says.

Wu Weishan, director of National Art Museum of China, says that behind Chen's work is his commitment to being a thinker and trailblazer in the realm of calligraphy."Between the strokes, he is reaching out to the core of traditional culture, and looking for a path to the future of the craft."