Zhong Guokang – Chinese Seal Carver

About the Artist

Zhong Guokang is a contemporary Chinese calligrapher and seal carver celebrated for his fiercely original manner — a knife-like brush, a brush-like knife, and a signature red seal paste of his own invention that carries the fragrance of ink. His art is bold, untamed and unmistakably personal.

Artist Introduction

Zhong Guokang was born in 1957 into one of the first generations of farming and reclamation families of China, and bound himself to calligraphy from childhood. He first won recognition at school for his solid regular-script foundation, and later transformed his tools and methods through inventive brush modification and ink experimentation, developing a distinctive flavour entirely his own. He seals his identity in the character ‘ugly’ — a self-mocking rejection of prettiness that has become the emblem of his art. He works without drafts: once the knife touches the stone he finishes in one breath, keeping the direction of the stone unchanged to the last of several hundred characters, and can carve more than ten seals a day. From 1991 he shut himself away for twelve years — 4,380 days and nights of reading, copying models, carving and composing over two hundred poems — until he forged a firmly independent style. His greatest invention is a seal paste blended with ink, kneaded five hundred to a thousand times until ink and paste truly merge; the special paste he prepares has been prized at as much as 60,000 yuan per kilogram. In 2014 nine of his seals, the ‘Lingnan Imprints’ series, were reproduced on Chinese revenue stamps — a rare national recognition of seal carving art.

Works Appreciation

Application Scenarios

Zhong Guokang’s works suit collectors who prize strong individuality and living craft: seals for collections and study desks, calligraphy for statement walls, and gifts for those who appreciate art with a story. His invention of ink-infused seal paste adds a unique chapter to any collection of contemporary seal carving.