Cui Fei: Vermicular Calligraphy; Chiang Yomei: Moon on the Water

Born in Jinan, Cui Fei studied at the China Academy of Fine Arts and received her MFA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Based in New York since 2000, she has exhibited extensively across the globe and is best known for her artworks that use natural materials such as thorns, vines, and seeds, exploring nature's influence on human culture.

The exhibition Vermicular Calligraphy will debut a new body of work by the artist, developed over several years.

The artist describes this series as a further exploration of asemic writing found in nature. While out collecting plant materials, she noticed intriguing markings carved by beetles on tree trunks and their resemblance to Chinese calligraphy. The earliest form of Chinese writing is believed to have been inspired by bird tracks and insect tracings. For this series, Cui treats bark beetle tracings as a kind of primordial writing, tracing language back to its origin in nature. Capturing the patterns through ink rubbing and using them as references, she hammers lead over the insect-scarred tree trunks, creating embossed “sheaths”—relics of the damage caused by our exploitation of the environment.

This exhibition focuses on the ink rubbings, the first part of her process, which has resulted in paper reliefs. The ink rubbings take on a three-dimensional form—in essence, they are delicate molds of the tree trunks where bark beetles left their natural markings.

Writing and calligraphy serve as metaphors through which Cui investigates the relationship between human beings and nature, emphasizing the importance of nature in our culture and lives.

 

"So I say this to you - this is how to contemplate our conditioned existence in this fleeting world: Like a drop of dew, or a bubble in a stream; like a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, or a flickering lamp, an illusion, a phantom, or a dream. So is all conditioned existence to be seen. Thus spoke Buddha."  -The Diamond Sutra

 

Moon on the Water is Chiang Yomei’s first solo exhibition in the US. Born in Taiwan and based in London since 1981, Yomei is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is deeply influenced by the philosophy and psychology behind Buddhist thought. We will feature two ongoing bodies of work by the artist: her Lotus and Waking Dream series.

 

Yomei’s Waking Dream series centers on a circular moon-like form, repeated and sometimes elongated and fragmented, painted using acrylic on canvas. According to the artist,
“Because all compounded phenomena are conditioned and eventually fall apart, nothing has a solid, unchanging existence. So everything is really an illusion: like an image in the mirror, a moon on the water. The Moon on the Water is a meditation on impermanence.”

 

The circular form has many meanings in Buddhist thought: it represents non-duality; a constant flow of energy, and is symbolic of the cyclical, creative and infinite nature of the universe and of life. To Yomei, her circles emphasize that phenomena are neither created nor destroyed  (不生不滅). That all things are interdependent and do not have an independent existence, being empty in nature. Her work Unborn and Unceasing embodies this philosophy, with its vibrant, undulating red surface painted using sand, incense ash and oil on canvas.

 

Alongside her works on canvas is a selection of works on paper from her Lotus series. Here, she uses traditional Chinese ink, sea salt, pencil & acrylic. Spontaneity and uncertainty are key elements to her artistic approach; she embraces the idea of chance and impermanence, much like Dadaists did in the mid-20th century, who were also influenced by Buddhist philosophy. In Buddhism, the Lotus symbolises purity, enlightenment and non-attachment. The Lotus plant roots in mud (symbolizing attachment); its bloom above the water represents non-attachment.

 

“The Lotus represents the journey towards enlightenment, from root to bloom, a metaphor for different stages of development. For me, the whole lotus represents the practitioner, the path. The works Story of the Lotus and Dream of the Lotus express my own process as a practitioner through ink and brush, a meditation on impermanence.” - Chiang Yomei, 2025