The avant-garde calligraphy artists known as Zenei Gang of Five pose in front of one of their works at an exhibition in Hanoi convention.

A group of innovative artists is pushing the boundaries and transforming an ancient art.

A zenei (avant-garde) calligraphy work by the Zenei Gang of Five

It used to be that there were two types of calligraphy in Vietnam: the time-honored traditional style using characters known as Han (ancient Chinese script) and Nom (the Vietnamese adaptation of the Chinese script), which developed robustly in the north. And the second type using Quoc ngu characters (the script of the national language), which were based on the Latin alphabet and developed primarily in the south.

In the 1990s, Vietnam’s local arts and calligraphy scene began to burgeon with a host of exhibitions by famed calligrapher Le Xuan Hoa and other artists.

An exhibition titled Nhi thap bat tu (28 gifted men) organized by 28 young artists in 2006, marked a great jump for local calligraphers.

With roots in Japanese art, the newly emerging style of calligraphy used by the artists was considered a massive breakthrough and astonished the public.

But the genre had many critics as well.

A heated debate arose as to whether it was possible to have an art called calligraphy in which the characters were meaningless and served only as aesthetic markings.

The innovative artists pointed out that it was possible to create striking effects with Chinese brushes, inks and papers that could not be matched by those used in Western art. Even unintelligible calligraphy could have a deep impact on the observer, they said.

The artists were tenacious in their efforts to turn the avant-garde calligraphy into a purely abstract art and sought to compel viewers to marvel at this artistic transformation of an ancient tradition.

In 2007, an exhibition titled Hon thu thao featured more works that broke free from

A group of pioneering young calligraphers called Zenei Gang of Five, who were proficient in both Han and Nom, traveled far and wide in search of inspiration and materials for their innovative works.

Le Quoc Viet, the group leader, who has practiced traditional calligraphy since he was a teenager, was one of the first artists to adopt the avant-garde style of calligraphy in Vietnam in 2006.

As more attention is paid to the country’s traditional culture, many scholars have increasingly turned to writing calligraphy for the Van Mieu Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature), Vietnam’s first university, said Viet.

Such a focus, however, has turned the temple into nothing more than a “word market,” Viet lamented.

“Calligraphy isn’t only about that, otherwise scholars would become board painters who merely imitate their predecessors,” he said.

“Knowing that we can’t outdo our predecessors in producing aesthetically pleasing forms, my group and I decided to take our own path. Our work is light entertainment which seeks to evoke feelings among viewers, not strictly academic, classic reference-filled brushwork which viewers often try to read,” said Viet.

“People aren’t used to contemplating calligraphy works at museums or galleries. With our artwork displayed at galleries, viewers don’t need to wait until the Lunar New Year to enjoy our work,” Viet said when asked why the group exhibited their work in a gallery instead of Van Mieu Quoc Tu Giam, the most popular venue among other calligraphers.

“Besides, people who go to Van Mieu are mostly those who are knowledgeable about Han and Nom characters. But at galleries, our artwork is judged by artistic circles and is more likely to receive a lot of critical attention,” he added.

The Zenei Gang of Five’s 2007 exhibition, Chu (Script), was the first calligraphy exhibition to be held in a gallery instead of Van Mieu.

Viet’s solo exhibition Toi nghe nhu the nay (This is how I hear it) debuted early this year and is considered another breakthrough in Vietnam’s avant-garde calligraphy.

Reported by Thanh Chung