Although not a household name, Tung Yang-tzu’s (董陽孜) calligraphy can be found on passport stamps, the main hall of Taipei Railway Station, a Jay Chou (周杰倫) music video and now at Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
The museum is hosting 94 of Tung’s large-format pieces, as well as oil paintings in a solo retrospective called “Moving Ink,” which runs until March 8.
Born in Shanghai in 1942, Tung arrived in Taiwan at the age of 10, and studied art at National Taiwan Normal University.
Photo: CNA
After developing her skills in the US, she returned to Taiwan in 1977 to devote herself to calligraphy, she said.
Her work has since been featured on the logos of the Ministry of Culture, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Huashan 1914 Creative Park, as well as on the covers of books by novelist Pai Hsien-yung (白先勇) and in a terminal at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport).
Tung, who studied the works of calligraphy masters, developed a notable improvisational and emotional style, which she credits to her training in other visual arts.
Calligraphy, while often neglected, is a vital part of Taiwan’s cultural heritage, Tung said.
Even as technology threatens to overshadow or even replace traditional art forms, she prefers the physical presence of the written word, she said.
“Technology makes life convenient, but it dilutes our human relationships,” she said. “With one click, you can erase anything on a computer, but remember, people still save old handwritten letters because of their emotional resonance.”
Tung does not own a mobile phone or computer, but that does not stop her from trying to reinvent her work through genre-crossing experiments, and collaborations in sculpture, music and fashion, she said.
However, she said she hopes these contemporary endeavors “will encourage someone to pick up a brush and write, so the cultural heritage of calligraphy can be passed on.”
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