Calligraphy 1980

This is a calligraphy scroll by Jianyin Xia, and looking at it I imagine the ink, thick and black, flowing from the brush like a dark river. I love how each character seems to have a life of its own, like they’re dancing on the paper. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving, deciding on the weight and curve of each stroke. It makes me wonder, what was Jianyin Xia thinking as they made this? Was there a sense of meditation, or was it a burst of energy and feeling they had to express? And the way the lines vary in thickness – some bold and assertive, others delicate and thin – it’s like listening to a song with different volumes and intensities. It’s something that connects them, not just to their own practice, but to a larger conversation happening across art history. Paintings, writings, whatever: it’s all just voices talking to each other, inspiring new ways of seeing and feeling. There’s no right or wrong way, just a continuous flow of expression.