Influence of the contemporary Han calligraphy artist, Gao Feng
-- his use of Dongba pictographs and his interpretation of Naxi myth --
on artists in the U.S.
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| click Poster for Albuquerque Exhibit of Naxi tale |
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In June, 2008, academics and artists from the U.S. states of Georgia, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico collaborated to install a major exhibition of Gao Feng's 60 calligraphy illustrations of the Naxi origin myth, Worship Heaven, using the pictographic symbols of the Naxi's Dongba (shamen, chroniclers, poets) at the Harwood Art Center of Albuquerque, New Mexico. American art inspired by Gao accompanied the exhibit. .
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| interviewing artist, Dale Harris (on right) |
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I had been eager to exhibit Gao's art on the Naxi in New Mexico since 2001 when Professor Guo first asked me about the relation between my own, majority Anglo-American, culture and that of minority Native American cultures. I had replied that while my family denied we had any Native American ancestors, although we did, and while I had been taught that the Native Americans who had lived where I did in Texas were cannibals, properly exterminated; Native American cultures in the adjoining state, New Mexico, were now cherished by non-natives, as ethno-tourism was the commercial engine, authentic artifacts highly prized and fashionably copied across America on everything from home furnishings to jewelry and apparel. Carried away I declared: "New Mexico is the Yunnan of America; Albuquerque, Kumming; and Santa Fe, Lijiang. As Georgia O'Keefe taught Americans to appreciate the Santa Fe Pueblos who influenced her art, Gao will teach them to appreciate the Naxi."
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| Georgia O'Keefe |
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| Georgia O'Keefe's depiction of a Kachina |
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| Santa Fe, New Mexico |
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To properly exhibit Gao's 60 drawings of the Naxi genesis requires
raising funds and sponsors, a fine exhibition gallery, calculations
and carpentry, ladders, lighting, publicity, -- work by a lot of people.
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| installing Albuquerque show |
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| Hebrew Genesis Egyptian pictographs |
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| This support materialized three years later after art I created in response to Gao's example, had been shown in Palestine, Canada, 2 cities in Japan, and 6 in the U. S. When asked about
the piece, I often referred to Gao Feng's
art, Cai Hua's anthropology, and the Naxi Dongbas. In the U.S., people
were interested in juxtaposing Dongba pictographs with petroglyphs,
picture writing on rocks, the dating of which range from 2000 years
ago, 1 bce (before christian era), to the 20th century. And they were
interested in juxtaposing speculations about relations between the the
Na and the Naxi with speculations about relations between the Anasazi
(ancient) and the Hopi, the Zuni, and other Pueblo peoples many of
whom are traditionally matri-local.
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| petrogylph with 2000 years of additions |
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