English translation

Sunny Spring morning in March, at the Great Hall of Exhibition, The New Shanghai Library, a group eagerly anticipating something beautiful to happen, surrounds a calligrapher/painter. He is not tall, walks with light steps, long hair over his shoulders, a broad forehead, wears a well-fitted black Chinese tunic, and shines with a bright spirit. He adjusts the glasses on his nose and slowly greets each one in the audience with his gaze. Closing his eyes, he breathes deeply. The "four treasures" of the studio are arranged just so, scores of seals stand at one side of the table like soldiers to be reviewed.

One sees him opening his eyes, picking up a long wolf-hair brush, dipping it in clean water, drawing two straight lines on the Xuan paper , a slight tug, the paper separates without a sound. A brush instead of a knife. Now he picks up a set of copper bells from the table, strikes them. Ding….the sound lingers and lingers, reminds one of a Ping Tan story teller banging a piece of wood on the table. The painter now enters a state of neither self nor world.

One sees the brush leaping up like a rabbit and landing like a crane, slithering like a snake or a dragon, like thunder and lightening, mountain echoing and ocean whispering. Before anyone can see it all, he straightens up, smiles, puts down the brush, rubs his hands, finished.

This is a water and ink painting, entitled "Joy". The artist is Hsu Kwang-han. On this painting "joy" there is no human nor animal form, not a flower nor a blade of grass, only lines expansive and soaring. And each observer is infected and feels the sentiment of joy emerging between brush and ink. Yet there are those who quietly grumble: Is this calligraphy? Or is it painting? Calligraphy without words? Painting without forms? What on earth is this?

Hsu Kwang-han is Chinese, born 1938 in Yunnan Province, received his basic education in his home town, and obtained academic degrees from the United States in mathematics, theology, sociology and psychology of religion. He is erudite. In the early 70s', by chance he discovered his talent and experimented with Chinese calligraphy tools to create "significant-image calligraphic paintings". With years of exploration and practice, something strikingly significant has blossomed. In the Fall of 1999, his individual exhibition "From Heart to Heart" was held at the National Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, Sweden. It aroused wide attention and interest among the European audience, especially among those who have a feeling for Chinese culture but yet without much knowledge. They discovered a fresh new dimension to the artistic tradition of Chinese calligraphy and painting. Also in Sweden, Alok Hsu Kwang-han led a workshop of 50 students entitled "Meditation and the Creativity of Non-doing".

In Dec. the same year, at the Water Harp Gallery and Garden in Pune, India, his "Zen Painting-Gate to Essence" took place. Indian art, which has certain links with Chinese culture could contact the spirit of Zen through his creations and arrive at a sense of intimacy.

Because of his having been rooted and nourished in Chinese culture, because of his knowledge of human psychology, also because of his having a clear understanding of the functions of religion-- Mr. Hsu's calligraphy accentuates the importance of Chinese brush and ink; each brush stroke rooted in its cultural source. At the same time, his calligraphy is full of human feeling. From the seemly simple strokes on the painting surface, one can fathom mankind's simple and plain, and at the same time, strongest sentiments. And above all, his creations make a clear spiritual impact. According to the assessment of Mr. Per-Olow Leijon , Senior Curator of Chinese and Japanese Art at The National Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, Sweden, " The paintings of Alok Hsu Kwang-han represent a perfectly new way of pictorial expression yet have their roots in the classic Zen painting tradition in China going back a thousand years".

The first Spring day of the New Millennium brings Hsu Kwang-han to Shanghai for the "Heart Spirit Light" exhibition of his calligraphic paintings. From his 50 exhibited pieces, one could sense the vibrant spirit and heart of this Chinese American artist, as he invites you into his imaginative realm and takes you for a tour of the spirit. "A Song" expresses in its few simple lines a rhythmic flow. A painting "I Just Close my Eyes" consisting of softly crossing strokes that look like green willow dancing in the Spring wind, or a rainbow suddenly leaping into the blue sky. "Just Be Yourself" is very graphic, with a red spot gleaming in the middle, the outside circle oozing away like enshrouding mist, four seals stamped up down, left and right. " To Live Indian Flute Music" showing a slanting bamboo flute, or one might see it like an elongated Chinese character ONE. " In one swift varied stroke, "Surprised by the Beloved" expresses simply and wildly love's surprise. " Making a Home" shows wide-spread wings flying in the center of one's vision. " Three Jokes About Innocent Children" allows one to envisage three full-hearted laughing children; their overlapping laughter is more than enough to move anyone with the heart of a child.

The work of Hsu Kwang-han is amphibious, cannot be located in any existing framework of reference, a completely new manifestation of art, through which one perceives the heart of a sage and his empathetic understanding of the soul of man. So free and spontaneous, his brush strokes express the experience and sentiments of the heart, and because of the absence of any constraints, each painting is able to hide a secret to be discovered by the viewer who is open to the spirit.