He Hangfei Art Exhibition — Spiritual Images in Calligraphy

Jan 16th,2026 24 Views

Spirit of Written Forms – He Hangfei Art Exhibition

Artist: He Hangfei

Curator: Lin Zhu

Producer: Wang Fang

Academic Support: Gao Fei

Exhibition Coordinator: Zhao Xinyu

Exhibition Period: June 15, 2025 – July 14, 2025

Opening Time: 2:30 PM, June 15, 2025

Organizer: Dechang Art V Exit Art Museum

Co-organizer: Guagua Gallery

Venue: Hall 2, Dechang Art V Exit Art Museum

No. 122-1 Zhuzhou Road, Laoshan District, Qingdao

--- Preface ---

Spirit of Written Forms

By Lin Zhu

He Hangfei can clearly present on paper those prehistoric and unknown elements in his mind. This artistic expression encompasses two directions of his creation—calligraphy and painting. In his calligraphy, he strives to capture and embody the ancient, primitive, simple yet powerful aura of stone inscriptions through his brushwork. In his paintings, however, his works almost always feature spirit beasts and supernatural creatures reminiscent of those described in Classic of Mountains and Seas. Through continuous creative practice, he integrates calligraphy and painting, forging them into a visual manifestation of "spiritual essence" in his writing art.

Nowadays, most artists are attempting to discard materiality and return to the spiritual origin. He Hangfei’s works, on the contrary, have been rooted in this spiritual core from the very beginning. "Writing", as his way of perceiving the world, serves as a manifestation of the images in his inner heart. In my opinion, no matter how the forms in his works transform, they always convey the impression of a living organism with a palpable pulse, breathing and throbbing with vitality. When you stand in front of his works, you will feel your "heart rate" resonating in harmony with the lines of the pieces—a particularly soothing and tranquil experience. It is a truly wonderful and mysterious sensation.

This inclination may stem from his birth and upbringing at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, adjacent to Chongyang Palace, as well as Louguantai where Laozi delivered his teachings, and Dalingshan Mountain associated with tales of immortality. Growing up surrounded by the spirit beasts, immortals, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas depicted in the Taoist sacred sites, along with the calligraphy carvings and Taoist spirits left by ancient sages such as Ouyang Xun, Mi Fu, Zhao Mengfu and Wang Chongyang, He Hangfei has developed an almost obsessive preference for primal and ancient aesthetics. His creative path follows the traditions of the past: when practicing calligraphy, he bypasses the Song and Yuan dynasties, seeking inspiration from the Wei and Jin dynasties, and tracing back further to the Qin and Han dynasties, even to the primitive folk art. He pursues a natural state characterized by simplicity, ruggedness, purity and spirituality. In painting, his spiritual recognition of the ancient human belief in "communication with gods" has sparked a profound interest in the creature images described in Classic of Mountains and Seas. This has driven him to consciously conduct systematic documentation and refinement of these motifs. Thus, "spiritual essence" has become the primary form of expressing his life and emotions. Moreover, this has opened up a new creative path that organically integrates the individual spiritual imagination in artistic creation with objective and rigorous textual research. From the lines in his works, one can perceive the natural forms and growing vitality inherent in the calligraphic styles of ancient divination texts. The posture and momentum of these lines seem to echo the unrestrained spirit of ancient mythical beasts. Embracing the essence of nature, his works brim with wit and charm, moving freely between "craftsmanship" and "artistry".

When it comes to the understanding of nature, I greatly admire Marc Chagall’s insight: "Only what exists in the human heart is real. To label the so-called illogical things as fantasy, absurdity and myth is actually an admission that one does not understand nature, does not understand the external world, and has not truly understood what one sees." The external objects and inner perceptions that naturally emerge in the mind over time are far more real than the subjective assumptions derived from logical thinking and conceptual frameworks. This perspective helps us better understand why, in religious practice, the truth cannot be described in words, and why the conceptual foundation of logic becomes an obstacle to knowledge—leading to a misinterpretation of nature from the very start.

When all subjective linguistic styles and habitual methods are clearly manifested in the inner mind, the fundamental obsessions will be dissolved by the essence of nature. His works thus record the traces of the consciousness of life existing in the present moment, and embody the extension and testimony of the cycle of formation, existence, decay and emptiness. This is reflected in the harmony between "power" and "emptiness" in the visual schema. While applying his artistic creativity to trace back the traditional path and cultivate his artistic experience, He Hangfei also maintains a clear awareness of letting natural charm flow freely. He uses his innate nature to deconstruct the constraints of human experience, opening up a path that connects the past, present and future. The experience of both the unknown and the known is also a manifestation of the organic integration of the "metaphysical" and "physical" dimensions in artistic creation.

Lin Zhu

Director of Dechang Art Culture Institution and V Exit Art Museum

Co-founder and Chief Curator of Qingdao International Art Biennale

--- Selected Works ---