A Visit To City Rhymes

May 21, 2023

- H.E. Davey

Calligraphy speaks for our soul, that holds true. We all at some point have unexpressed emotions and it seems easy for us to free them through writing, may it be digitally or manually, both have different factors. However, using calligraphy to convey our emotions is more artistic and realistic. It not only conveys our feelings but also reveals our personality and temperament. Each brush stroke we make as we carefully hold it, and apply it to the canvas reveals something about who we are.

I personally enjoy calligraphy because I find it fascinating to see the various writing styles and how they reveal the calligrapher's personality. It's a mode of expression that is unquestionably far better than using a keyboard. I didn't think twice about going into City Rhymes at the HK Museum of Art in Tsim Sha Tsui after learning about it. Besides, entrance was only free, with the exception of the gallery hosting a special exhibition.

The City Rhymes has a collections of melodious notes of calligraphy by different Hong Kong artists. I walked through a dark pathway and on the left side was an installation showing a black and white cinematic scene from the old era showing different Calligraphy styles on shops' boards and signages. Alongside was the board for introduction to Chinese Calligraphy.

There are seventy featured Calligraphy artworks in this exhibition and all portrays different styles of different artists. Some styles even came from old Chinese dynasties. Albeit written in Chinese, I can somehow tell the differences by looking at the strokes, the shapes, and edges of each artwork. I was overwhelmed upon seeing diverse extraordinary Calligraphy artworks and each seem to show sentiments of the Calligrapher. It requires great temperament and discipline to be able to produce a unique Calligraphy and not all can do that. So artists behind those artworks are truly commendable.

This massive artwork shows lyrics of a pop song Tourbillion sung by Eason Chan. The artist, Wyman Wong made the song as inspiration and wrote the lyrics in cursive script while expressing his thoughts and feelings in response to daily life.

These are eight scrolls hung from the ceiling written with ink on silk. Writing lyrics has become an element of art were melodies transforms into words using artistic way of calligraphy.

Before, I wondered how to read those strokes which seem to be random for me at the beginning until I get to learned some of them. Anyone who have no idea about Chinese writing would definitely be lost in the world of Chinese calligraphy.

This part exhibits an interplay combining Calligraphy, dance, and music. There are hanging scrolls of Bang Scripts with large fonts similar to those we usually see in shop signs and plaques. This exhibition tried to portray Calligraphy as a dance of ink and brush, which holds true. You can imagine the movements of brushes in writing calligraphy similar to dancing in rhythm.

Along with the hanging scrolls are screens showing a man dancing in rhythm and echoes each stroke of calligraphy. As they tried to portray here, both dancing and writing calligraphy needs balance between speeds and forces to achieve a unique masterpiece.

Meanwhile, this chamber shows a video installation of the artwork, Emptiness. This was somewhat nostalgic and reminded me of those good old days where we usually write on the ground. Similarly, this artwork was inspired by scene of Chinese people writing calligraphy on the ground with brush and water. As the water dries, it will turn into emptiness.

There's an interactive room on the other side of the gallery where visitors could write on a distinct kind of paper using different brushes and water, portraying the same aspect of the Emptiness exhibition.

As the water dries, the written words will eventually fade. The place is facing the Victoria harbor and the scene is another inspiration in writing.

The purpose of this interactive room isn't just to allow visitors to try calligraphy, but also to introduce different kinds of brushes.

This one is an AI and data interactive installation adapted from a Chinese essay, Mochiji. We, visitors, had a chance to play this interactive installation by choosing a word from Mochiji on a digital platform using the displayed buttons in front of the screen. The selected word will be displayed like floating ink on the screen and will merge with other collective scripts to generate new renditions.

And more video were installed showing different calligraphy dancing in rhythm.

I entered the gallery for prose and poetry and was stunned by pretty calligraphy styles. Some shows running script, some were regular script, some were seal script, the prettiest for me were the cursive and clerical scripts. There were couplets, scrolls, and portraits showing different poems and calligraphy styles which seem to have been written gracefully.

The main attraction was the landscape calligraphy. From the title itself, these artworks combined landscapes painting in ink with calligraphy.

There was a unique display at the corner which is more like a big collage in folded frames. It consists of different calligraphy styles, doodles, paintings, drawings, and some were like old photos taken from old magazines or newspapers.

There are different paintings too combining art and calligraphy.

I stumbled upon this curtain strips with printed image of old Hong Kong street. This door led me to the Inked City.

This exhibition was inspired by a poem Inked City written by the artist. On the center was a long table occupied by objects in ink which I thought were charcoals. I couldn't identify them but those are either styrofoam or bricks piled into like a deserted city, and painted with ink. There were some objects like burners installed on the table l, so I initially thought the landscape was an illustration of a burnt city. Nonetheless, it was such an artistic way of portraying a poem.

On the other side was an art installation of Control Freak. I thought they were emojis written in calligraphic style. But those were different strokes written using a brush under magnetic resistance. It's like combining science, art, and calligraphy. You can see the writing system with magnetic resistance in the photo below. Those strokes on display were written by different participants, and they experienced writing process that involved law of physics.

The Fancy of Ink exhibition, from the name itself, it truly looked fancy. There's a video installation showing artistic strokes of calligraphy and they're like dancing flames.

On another side was another exhibition showing different artistic Chinese characters, that for me, they look like boats and flames, lol.

I came across a large canvas of calligraphy with huge strokes plastered on facades of the gallery.

On the other end was a wall of calligraphy with drawing illustrations of known Chinese characters and landscapes. You can see some of them shared in my entry for the monomad challenge in Black and White Community.

Even these seats have calligraphy designs as well.

There was a room showing different publications containing different calligraphy styles from old to new generations.

An old Adana letterpress printing machine is on display as well. This was used in 1960s-80s for producing name cards.

It was such a wonderful visit to City Rhymes with melodious notes of calligraphy. I had a chance to know artworks on display with the help of this pamphlet given for free to visitors. It has been my guide and my reference in this post.

Furthermore, this exhibition helps visitors to better understand calligraphic works. It gives us an opportunity to see different artistic artworks by different Hong Kong artworks and feel how significant it is in Chinese culture.

If you are in Hong Kong and want to visit City Rhymes, just go to Tsim Sha Tsui which is accessible via train or bus, preferably train, then look for exit going to HKMOA. It is just located along Victoria Harbor.

Thanks for stopping by and happy weekend!

(All photos are mine)

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