Calligraphy Foundations

 “My work is centered in transformation, identity, perception, and language which I’ve explored through figurative/landscape painting, calligraphy, sculptural work, performance, and installation. Although I find merit in my accomplishments as a draftsman, representational work has given way to a need for abstraction, exploration of materials, and uninhibited energetic expression (flow). With a background in graffiti writing in Atlanta, GA, and after a year spent living in Seoul, South Korea in 2010, I began engaging almost exclusively in calligraphy; developing a unique interpretation of English writing based on the principles and philosophy of East Asian calligraphy.

Prior to my formal education, I trained as a graffiti writer. Graffiti (a product of Hip Hop and the imaginations of marginalized communities) provided a robust education and foundation. Beyond learning illustrative techniques, use of materials, and text design, the experience helped me to build a framework with which to see the world, and my place within it. This melded with my experience in Seoul, where I found the freedom to exist as a Black man without the energetic and societal constraints and expectations of the American South. Suddenly, seeds from new experiences had room to take root and grow in previously laid groundwork. Separation from familiarity created space to find the vastness of myself.

While living in Seoul, I trained in East Asian calligraphy techniques with traditional brush and ink – and studied the art form’s philosophy and evolution across China, Japan, and Korea. The integration of this study into my work gave new life to my passion for lettering. Moreover, the energetic and philosophical parallels between seemingly disparate cultures (Hip Hop, East Asian), catalyzed growth in my work and personal life. Both schools of thought use the written word to train the body and mind synchronously in order to cultivate qí, access internal energy functionally, and heighten creative expression. How you present, practice, and what rests inside your spirit is recorded irrevocably in a moment’s time. These concepts are the foundations of what has become my calligraphy writing practice today.

Extensive study of calligraphic masterworks by artists such as Zhao Ji, Mi Fu, Xu Wei, Wang Dongling, Yuichi Inoue, and others, influenced my technical knowledge of brush and ink. With an understanding of the brush strokes and order derived from Chinese characters, my practice began to shift from mimicking shapes to constructing a unique system for designing the English Alphabet. Since 2010, my writing has matured in technique, balance, flow, and consistency. In 2019, I formulated the Single Word Character. I first arrange the letters of an English word to fit within a square format, which is the design parameter for characters in the Chinese writing system. I then applied the principles of Chinese calligraphy, using stroke-shape, stroke-order, and flow to create the Single Word Character.

Eventually, through explorative use of materials and applications, the work which began in a traditional format has become less about what is written and more about how it feels; developing purely into painting. Ultimately what I’m investigating is the materiality of language; verbal meanings eclipsed by the landscapes written words create on the surfaces where they rest.

The transformation of my calligraphic studies has allowed my art practice to evolve. As much as my work is an exercise in self-cultivation, it is a questioning and exploration of racial perceptions and the confines they may create. It is an expression of Blackness not indebted to the parameters of the American lens; it carries prayers and ancestral underpinnings, while it searches for transcendence in a modern world.”