Ming Chip Fung’s art: From seal to relief work to bronze sculpture
by Nancy T. Lu
The China Post
December 1992
The lines, the strokes and the shapes that emerge from the imagination of artist Ming Chip Fung strike onlookers initially as resembling stick drawings seen in caves of primitive times.
But that is because the New York-based Fung strongly believes in making one clear art statement: Go back to the basics. From his creative exercises in playing with words come art expressions filled with basic elements in Chinese characters. For example, the sun, the moon, and the stars are represented in the most elementary outlines that bring to mind the beginnings of Chinese writing.
“People take a look at me and conclude that I am not likely to have a grasp of the traditional Chinese arts,” says the 41-year-old Fung. “The truth is I started out by mastering something traditional for my basic background. I am reverting back to the basics in my art.”
Fung took up traditional seal carving after watching a friend at work in Hong Kong. He asked if he could try to carve a chop with the tools available and a nod put him on the road to a career as a seal carver.
Fung carved his first seal in 1975. For years, he made chops for a living. “I should be approaching the 10,000th piece by now,” he quips. There are periods when he feels driven to be highly productive. Fung actually keeps a neat record of all his works. But he has in the last years been able to rise above being a mere seal carver to become an artist with a history of successful solo exhibitions in New York, Hong Kong and Taipei in the last 10 years. In fact, his output of practical chops these days is minimal.
Fung blows up his seals and even transforms them into carved wooden relief works. He also extracts elements in his chop designs and reproduces them in bronze. In short, he turns words into sculptures.
“I usually create my designs on paper first,” explains Fung. “These are then carved on wood and possibly later, executed in bronze. With bronze sculptures, I try to achieve the greenish patina with the help of sulfuric acid.”
The carved relief on the wall shows, for instance, red outlines of mountains against a white background. Words are appreciated for their linear quality. For this reason, foreigners are quick in admiring the works But Chinese viewers often are more interested in the meanings of the words in Fung’s designs.
Fung’s art projects a Chinese feeling. Even the square and rectangular formats he settles for resemble those of Chinese seals and painting scrolls.
“The beautiful art objects in the studies of the Chinese literati tend to be small,” notes Fung. “For this reason, I also like to keep my works limited in size.”