Gebert Contemporary at the Railyard is pleased to open an exhibition of new work by renowned Chinese painter, Fung Ming Chip. The contemporary calligraphic paintings that are a part of the exhibition are startlingly beautiful scrolls.  Elegant in their black ink script on paper and often marked by a number of distinct, red seals indicating the artist’s identity, these paintings move beyond traditional calligraphic values to explore complex composition and design.  While Fung’s respect for brushwork is evident throughout the paintings, he transcends accepted boundaries to embrace the infinite possibilities of script as composition—script as a means to a more lofty goal.

In addition to the scrolls will be seals that have been created in the artist’s own language.  Seal-carving for the artist is a sculptural art form, separate from the traditional intent of seals that are used to stamp a creator’s mark onto a scroll. Fung’s interest is to turn words or characters directly into sculpture, both large-scale wooden relief works as well as three-dimensional bronze works.

Fung Ming Chip is a gifted artist in several media.  In addition to being a skilled and inventive painter and sculptor, he is also a playwright, director, and novelist. Fung is also highly respected academically; in 2004, he was the Artist in Residence at Jesus College, Cambridge University.  The work of Fung Ming Chip is in the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art; the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University; the World Bank, Washington, DC; the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; and the Olenska Foundation, Geneva, as well as many other important public and private collections.

(Images: Fung Ming Chip, Chan / Zen (09p1-4), Chinese ink on paper, 67 x 24 inches; Wave, Reverse Time Script (06P15-10 ) , Chinese ink on paper 140 x 64 inches; Courtesy of the artist and Gebert Contemporary - Railyard)