Alternative Typographic Poster, Chinese Calligraphy
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The Recipe of Chinese characters

Inspired from Albert Einstein’s quote “ look deep into Nature, and you will understand everything better”, I looked deeper into the recipe of Chinese character, developed understanding the very unique set of sign and symbols invented and design in the ancient past – China. Chinese characters have an extremely sophisticated system and form of structures. These are also considered as the highest Chinese form of Art.

Using the metaphor of taste and recipe from cookery books, I narrowed my perspectives to look into the Nature of 4 tastes – Sour, Sweet, Bitter and Spicy. (酸， 甜， 苦， 辣). Based on my interpretations, in order to succeed and understand your subject better, it is a must to go through the process of four tastes in life. This is also known as the Art of living. Applying the metaphor of four tastes into the study of Chinese characters, the ways of how people gone through the different stages and tastes of life in the process of creating the Chinese character from the “Oracle Bone Script” to the current modern time - sour, sweet, bitter and spicy.

酸 –         Out of jealously, Emperor Qin burned all the books creating his
                 own characters.

甜 –         The process of success when the united script is formed.

苦 –         Going through the hard times of the evolution of Chinese character.

辣 –         The character being that depicts spice in life.

The Artwork has integrated the essence of “taste and looking deep into the Art of nature”.  The line quality, the effort in the rhythmic brush stroke, the freely open and close stoke and the structure of characters is uniquely and innovatively considered. The creation of the line joining from one end to another depicts the tracing back into the past. The overlapping of lines symbolise experimentation, in order to produce a beautiful overview of nature. In all, the line and stokes in calligraphy are part of the nature. Adding to this would be my design piece.