After A Thousand Miles

World Exhibition Tour

by Hsu Wen-Jung

July 30 — August 27, 2023

Opening & Artist Talk
July 30, 2023, 2:00 PM

Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery 
3F Fo Guang Shan Mabuhay Temple, 656 P. Ocampo Street, Malate, Manila

Hsu Wen-Jung’s After A Thousand Miles is the world exhibition tour of the Taiwanese contemporary artist’s completed works during his one-yearresidency at the Buddha Museum in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The renowned traveling exhibition, which has been shown in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, and France since 2019, is set to open in the Philippines from July 30 to August 27, 2023 at the Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery in Manila.

The Buddha Museum, a cultural, religious, and educational museum linked with the Buddhist order Fo Guang Shan and the newest member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), welcomed Hsu Wen-Jung to be a resident artist in 2018. Inspired by the museum’s relics, cultural art works, and one-stroke calligraphy works by its founder, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, Hsu created a massive calligraphy artwork comprising the Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, and Platform Sutra in cursive script, measuring 1.6 meters in height and 1 kilometer in length, representing “A Thousand Miles” of a life journey. This seminal piece sparked a collection of inspired old and new works, including ink and oil paintings, steel and bronze sculptures, and crystal installations, which now compose the traveling show.

“Using calligraphy, he brought together Chinese characters, landscapes and figures to create a new work of Asian art. The works, sometimes abstract, and sometimes figurative, open the horizon of the viewer. Being an artist of originality, he has become a nourishing nutrient for his life through his arduous growth process. He has shown his talents in his calligraphy, paintings and sculptures, and even in composite media.”

(Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery)

Hsu remarks on the amazing character of the quotidian animal in a series of paintings featuring images of cattle, emphasizing the significance of care for all life. In addition, the artist exhibits a series of colorful non-figurative ink and oil paintings that hint to emotive permutations where emotion, sentiment, and thought capture abstracted moments like “Roaming in the Mountain Woods.” A series of sculptural pieces in steel, bronze, and crystal give primacy to a poignant sense of poetic attention to calligraphic sensibility. One of the exhibition’s guiding presentations is a cursive calligraphy by the artist on the Diamond Sutra, a well-known Buddhist literature initially translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva in 401 C.E.

In a commentary to the sutra, Venerable Master Hsing Yun wrote: “The Diamond Sutra beats with two hearts: one is wisdom and the other is compassion. To be wise is to know and understand the essence of awareness. To be compassionate is to know and understand the essence of intention.” Hsu Wen-Jung’s poetic capturing of a journey of a thousand miles traces the artist’s awareness and intention where determinations and directions eventually converge.

After A Thousand Miles – World Exhibition Tour is organized by the Fo Guang Shan Mabuhay Temple, in partnership with the Fo Guang Yuan Manila Art Gallery and Buddha Light International Association Philippines. 

About the Artist

許文融 Hsu Wen-Jung