Wenbin is enthusiastic about calligraphy. In his childhood, he had a good grasp of the essence of famous calligrapher BaiYunshu's calligraphy, and became the youngest member of Chengdu Calligraphy Research Association at the age of sixteen. With various awards and worldwide recognition and compliments, we can feel the charm of Wenbin's calligraphy.

In his forties (years free of doubts) , Wenbin is obsessed with calligraphy and the Mi Fu (famous calligrapher and painter of Northern Song Dynasty) Style obsession is embodied in his works. With every stroke implicitly and precisely composed, his works are worth savoring. Wenbin, a man of integrity, makes you feel as if he lived in ancient times because of his humble temperament of an intellectual. Yet, he belongs to the future, reconstructing tradition in the aesthetical dimension of the times in a life revolving around writing brushes, inkstones, and rubbings of stone inscriptions. Sometimes he writes while smoking, the cigarette looks like a weasel hair brush, which adds some boldness to his ease, free and inspiring. He is unconstrained, standing aloof from worldly success with a big heart. Sometimes he writes while having tea, the tea cup seems to be a goat hairbrush, which adds some certainty, elegance, and greatness, hence it is no wonder that his works are full of refined Buddha spirit.   

Wang Jieqi once said that Wenbin had a sudden enlightenment in his childhood, but in fact he is obsessed and his obsession about calligraphy has made him stand firmly in the realm of calligraphy for over thirty years, studying and practicing diligently day in and day out. Such extraordinary perseverance is indeed rare and respectable. Today, with the diversification of art forms, the image format of calligraphy has been pushed to the forefront of contemporary art, but what about the traditional text form? How many people still use a writing brush? High-tech has replaced people's aesthetic desire with mechanical pleasure of clicking the keyboard and mouse. But is this progress or retrogression? At least it is some kind of loss! We can not help grieving over the extinction of species, but it is more heart wrenching when people stop thinking and become spiritually mechanical…

Therefore, people like Wenbin are really admirable. Art comes from the impulse of communication, which endows art with meaning. As an abstract visual artistic language, calligraphy has enriched our aesthetical expectation and spiritual enjoyment with its unique traditional text form. Wenbin's calligraphy is full of harmony, which means sublime beauty, a supreme spiritual realm— this is what Wenbin is pursuing and also what the world is expecting.   

At the beginning of the New Year, Wenbin confessed that he would continue to be obsessed in the traditional realm of calligraphy.

Surely the life of art in this realm will be more splendid!

                                                   By Tao Jing

      (Professor, Director of Department of Oil Painting, Academy of Fine Arts, Sichuan Normal University) at Lotus Workshop, Chengdu, Feb. 18, 2008