Milan Project (2020)

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​"Out of the Blue, A Calligraphy Journey through Alcantara", was an exhibition promoted and produced by the Municipality of Milan-Culture Department, the Royal Palace of Milan and Alcantara S.p.A, created especially for the apartment of the Princes, opened to the public in fall 2020.

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This exhibition was curated by Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli and Katie Hill.  In " Out of the Blue" six renowned Chinese artists combined ancient Chinese ink medium with contemporary Alcantara materiel to create site specific room installations that transformed the historical venue into a magical space. The goal was to promote Alcantara’s ongoing interest in the most advanced forms of contemporary creativity and collaborate with the established and the emerging artists on the creation of original works. This exhibition was fully funded by Alcantara Company including site visit, round-trip shipment of material, artwork making process, final installation, publicity, reception, and acquisition of all artists’ work.

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​I was the only female among the six invited Chinese artists. I spent nine months making eight large ink paintings on Alcantara material in my Kansas studio. Each piece was 5ft W x 30ft H. The final installation was put together by Milan team on site. There were four pairs and each one was double-sided. The front side was waterfall, and the back side was a semi-cursive style of Chinese calligraphy based on a famous Tang Dynasty poem. The content of the poem was related to the front image and the movement of the brush strokes looked like the flowing hair strands. The installation was hung in the center of the room from ceiling to floor. There were opening areas for viewers to access my work. The inspiration came from my first site visit. To me, the room had very intimate and personal feelings. The natural light from the two big vertical windows reminded me of the waterfall cascading from ceiling to floor, just like the flowing imagery of my long hair. I skillfully blended human and natural elements, using the motif of flowing hair, finely drawn in thin and silken strands following the Gongbi fine style to express the concept of life-force through a sculptural work in which nature, body and calligraphy merged.