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Wild Cursive
In Chinese writing aesthetics wild cursive calligraphy is considered the apex.
It is completely abstract. It frees the writer's words from convention and allows
the viewer to look in to the writer's soul in a raw visceral manner.
Traditionally Sumi ink is used. It is charcoal ground up and mixed into glue and
has an appealingly wild expressive quality which is difficult to control.
As chemical fixatives were compromising my health I switched easily from dry
charcoal to wet Sumi ink.
When worked-in to wet watercolor paper the ink spreads, feathers, in abstract
patterns true to the Eastern spirit of chance which is mentioned in the Book of
Changes, the I-Ching.
Some traditionalists believe there are five shades of black when the ink dries.
They ascribe emotions to each shade; lighter meaning meditative all the way to
darker meaning anger.
The Wild Cursive technique is a vehicle for me to address emotional issues on
a raw cellular level just as our distant ancestors would have done with issues that
would have confused them; they would have made a concrete visualization of the
issue and would have spoken directly to it using a spirit guide.
Wild Cursive is my spirit guide.
Wild Cursive / Black Berries 3
Sumi ink & acrylic on paper
84 x 96 inches
2007
Click on thumbnails below to see more Wild Cursive Series
