One day in mountain is worth two thousands years in the world

2012 - Drawing & Print (Drawing & Print)

Yangjiang Group

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One Day in the Mountain is a bilingual calligraphic performance piece written in ink superimposed with food leftover from a meal. The eponymous text: “One day in mountain is worth two thousands years in the world.” is written horizontally from left to right in both English and Chinese, following the writing order of modern Chinese instead of the traditional vertical right to left. With the word “is” migrating from the middle of the English phrase to be surrounded by Chinese characters, the resultant text appears to be spatially illustrating the meaning of being isolated in the mountain. The ink formed from the intermingling of food juices generates an energy circuit of inner cultivation through calligraphy writing with that the outer alchemy of cooking food. Furthermore, equating one day in the mountain with two thousand years also suggests that such transference of energy between insularity and worldliness can alter one’s experience and value of time.

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Zheng Guogu founded the artistic group Yangjiang Group in 2002 with Chen Zaiyan (b. 1971, Yangchun, China) and Sun Qinglin (b. 1974, Yangjiang, China). For the Yangjiang Group, calligraphy functions as a metaphor for unpredictable, mysterious encounters hidden under the surface of a materialistic, confusing world. Their works focus on mundane daily actions and processes through the construction of large-scale, non-traditional architectural structures in Yangjiang as well as performances and site specific exhibitions at galleries, museums and art fairs around the world. They primarily work in calligraphy in conjunction with daily activities such as meeting, eating, drinking, bartering, gaming, and gambling. Seeing Yangjiang as a place on the periphery of political influence from Beijing, their aim is to transgress any rules or controlled conditions for calligraphy writing. The intermixing of imbibing and writing also ensures a material circulation of inner being and outward energy that dissipates the boundaries between art and lived experience.

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Colors:

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• calligraphy.n.01
• language.n.01
• text.n.01
• isolation.n.03
• food.n.01
• time.n.05