The shape of the character

To mark Contemporary Art Day, a solo exhibition by Jacopo Della Ragione, an Italian artist who has lived in Beijing for over 25 years, will open in October at the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing. This exhibition explores the origins and characteristics of Chinese characters through the lens of abstraction, transforming what might be a simple visual reinterpretation into an intercultural inquiry. “The shape of the character” is the artist’s profound visual exploration of Chinese characters, rooted in the Western artistic context. He examines the forms and meanings of the characters, seeking their essence through a process of inner reflection, allowing them to break away from their original forms to become new visual entities, giving rise to a completely new form of artistic expression. Since 2019, he has used the power of acrylics on canvas and the soft lines of ink on paper to deconstruct, reorganize, and recreate the form of Chinese characters, adhering to the aesthetic principle of “the interaction between emptiness and fullness, the complementarity between being and non-being.” In his works, the colors and compositions resonate with the rhythm of Chinese brushstrokes. The gestures embody the rhythm of density and rarefaction found in Chinese brushstrokes, an infinite flow of energy lies hidden in the empty spaces; in the dense areas, the gesture takes on weight and intensity, revealing a powerful vital tension. In this “pictographic world of characters,” dictionary definitions have been deliberately set aside. When standing before the work, one does not assume the role of someone who can read Chinese to examine the correctness of the brushstrokes, but rather stands as a pure observer, ready to engage with the movement and breath of the lines. It is here that the act of looking transforms from the decoding of information into a spiritual resonance. Such is the experience one has when standing before an abstract painting. One does not ask, “What does it represent? What does it mean?” but directly perceives the power of color and the movement evoked by the line. Jacopo’s work thus liberates Chinese characters from their linguistic function, reducing them to a pure visual emotion.