According to the Chinese lunar calendar, 2021 is a year of the Ox, starting from February 12th, 2021 and lasting until January 31st, 2022. In ushering the new year, The Art Gallery is showcasing an online exhibition of 20 calligraphy ox paintings done by the late John Lee Joo For. Joo For’s calligraphy paintings are one of a kind. His strokes are bold and somewhat modern for his time. It is his way of saying that there is such beauty and versatility, speed and strength in the brushing of a single brushstroke that it sometimes seem superfluous to paint about something.
“My line is never a dead line, it is alive and calligraphic. It walks and whips, dances and jumps and flashes with amazing speed. It is nearly always black-positive whether Chinese or Indian Ink. It whizzles along, dabs and stabs from a pencil or a pen or a stick or a twig or just finger but mainly by the versatile brush in my impatient hand. My art line issues from my life-line in one flowing and furious energy. Imitating the sagacious artist of ancient China, I try to sit mute and calm before nature and its creatures and happenings and record them all with the eyes of my soul; then in a moment and place of tranquility, let my impressions unleash themselves in the swift lifeline of calligraphy and imagery.” – Lee Joo For
Do visit the exhibition preview of Year of The Ox, 2021 to view the paintings.
