Beginning March 17th, 2023, Fu Qiumeng Fine Art will mount a special presentation of Chinese artist Fung Ming Chip (冯明秋, b. 1951)’s latest series, NumberS, while also showcasing the artist’s unique approach to the medium of shufa (书法, the art of writing) through a selection of works taken from across his long career.  An accomplished poet, playwright, essayist, and seal carver, Fung now turns in his latest works to the deconstruction of shufa by exploring the connection between writing, self-representation, and time. 

Born in Guangdong and raised in Hong Kong, Fung began his artistic career after he moved to New York City in 1977.  His first experiments in seal carving (篆刻, zhuanke) deconstructed the forms of Chinese characters in this traditional medium. This engagement with the written word led Fung to a broader study of Chinese characters in the art of shufa.  Over the past forty years, Fung has invented over a hundred distinctive “scripts” that employ a wide range of styles and non-traditional processes, each of which explores how shufa works to represent the artist’s practice unfolding in time.

On view through May 20th, Traces of Time features 19 works that illuminate Fung Ming Chip’s evolving art practice and calligraphic philosophy over the past four decades. In the newest, NumberS Series, Fung builds upon his past experiments, using successive layers of Arabic numbers, ink washes, and calculated excisions to transcribe his full process of creation.  Every action – from the first stroke of his brush to the final affixture of his seals — is clearly legible on the page. Each work thus functions as an unbroken transcription of Fung’s artistic process and, by extension, a portrait of the artist himself.

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Daniel Greenberg, Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.