Art beat ... finger on the pulse

Beijing

Calligraphic characters

Cui Xianji's latest installation The Great Kuangcao at his solo exhibition continues his decadelong experiment with kuangcao, or the wild cursive style of Chinese calligraphy. The work consists of four parts in which figures of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Chairman Mao and Mona Lisa are surrounded by calligraphic characters of German, Russian, Chinese and Italian that are hung in midair. His other classic works of the same motif are also on show. Cui applies an art language that is anti-knowledge, anti-experience and anti-logic, and the many symbols in his works convey the message that people should rely on their instinct rather than pure knowledge.