Art from Calligraphy: Chinese Writing Turns into Pictorial Images, Performative Actions, Design Products and Graffiti Works

Chinese calligraphy is the “quintessence” of Chinese culture and is characterized by an extremely coherent and powerful tradition. However, in contemporary times it has undergone a radical change and has evolved into a plethora of new forms in all fields of visual and performing arts. In this chapter, some examples of these new forms will be given, in particular with regard to some media-areas: such as: 1) visual art, where Chinese writing turns into pictorial images; 2) performing arts, where the calligraphic gestures turn into performative actions; 3) applied arts, where Chinese characters and calligraphic lines turn into design products; 4) graffiti art, where calligraphic scripts turn into graffiti tags and “charactering” pieces. These new forms, that can be defined as “art from calligraphy”, demonstrate the capability of calligraphy to fit into contemporary art forms and keep up with changing times in a globalized context.