Ancient Chinese Characters

I studied Japanese after college, and learning to read and write Kanji - Chinese characters - was a huge influence on how I think as an artist. I was always so curious about how these supposedly pictographic characters depicted the world - I was fascinated with the (rather mythical) idea that there is a systematized form of communication somewhere between the physical, nonlinear mode of art and the linear logic of language. I think a great part of my drawing is an attempt to reconstruct this myth into which I'd once dreamed myself.

There is so much misinformation out there about the origins and logic of Chinese characters, both as presented to those learning Japanese as a foreign language, and stories that Japanese teachers tell their students that are passively received and accepted as true by most people (this applies equally well to all East Asian cultures). In actuality, the history of the characters is hugely rich and fascinating. I don't have time to write that book today, but, oh man, that is a book I'd really like to write...

The main problem is that the history of this writing is always begins with the present characters and tries to trace their roots to the earliest appearance of the character. The earliest examples are always from the (admittedly fascinating) oracle bone script. There are two problems with this. First of all, there were many different ways of writing in early China, only some of which survived to evolve into modern writing. Secondly, there is a huge prehistory of neolithic symbolic and ceremonial imagery that is usually ignored.

Too bad indeed, because clearly the most exciting moment in the history of writing is when it is crossing the threshold from drawing to a system that refers to the spoken word.

Interesting, yes, but moreover BEAUTIFUL!

In my research I had to resort to pulling rather dusty old books to find out the truth.
Isn't it strange how in this "information age that there is still a scarcity of meaningful information when you are looking for it? I photocopied these pages during a whirlwind period of my life and have lost the reference, but I think it is this book. Of course this google book doesn't have the relevant pages, so I feel compelled to share a few of my favorite pages from all the art history I've ever read.

Click on an image to make it BIG...



















Note that in some of the later writing in this series, which is oracle bone script, you can see that the ancient script is formally related to the modern characters printed next to them. If you can't see this immediately, take the time to figure out what I am referring to. The human mind has an incredible ability to compare differing forms, decide on a logic to structure the comparison, and categorize things together.