Luo Qi

titleslip: signed, titled in Chinese and dated 1994
marked with six seals of the artist

Acquired directly from the artist in 1994
Private American Collection

Overall in good condition. Overall scroll dimensions: 333 by 93 cm including the scroll ends.
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Luo Qi is an important advocate for the postmodern calligraphy movement that began in mainland China in the 1980s.  Drawing upon traditional aesthetics and modern semantics, he strives to develop an original narrative method focusing on integrating written language and pictorial image. In 1986 Luo Qi graduated from the printmaking department at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he remained as a guest lecturer and visiting scholar to several well-renowned American and European institutions. During his time spent abroad, Luo Qi deeply inspired by the works of the Western avant-garde, such as Joan Miro and Piet Mondrian. In Tranquil Stones, the combination of bold black lines and daring blocks of colour is reminiscent of ancient seal and clerical script styles yet infused with modernist thought; it reiterates the classic literati principle in the shared origin of painting and calligraphy while fuses colours together providing an unusual depth and texture to the painted surface. This painting is part of a series of four works which were exhibited at the China Academy of Art in the early 1990s.