The Oakland Post

OU presents Chinese Literati art

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Until Nov. 22, Oakland University will be host to some of the most prominent pieces in the Chinese art form known as literati.

Literati is a Latin term to describe the ability to write, and all of the pieces in the “Writing an Image” exhibition incorporate text written in Chinese characters into idyllic depictions of nature.

The images have been on display in the OU Art Gallery on the second floor of Wilson Hall since September. Dick Goody, director of the gallery, said the literati exhibit strongly complements displays featured at the gallery in the past.

“We really chose this for variety I think,” Goody said. “Last year we showed two exhibitons of contemporary art … We tried to balance that this year.”

The pieces range in age from as recently as the last decade to over 800 years ago.

 Goody said literati artists have historically been city dwellers who strongly admired — perhaps even worshipped — nature. Many of the pieces, if examined from bottom to top, depict an evolution from realistic objects and people to ethereal images of the imagination.

He also said that literati art demands that its practitioners be skilled in many disciplines.

“A literati artist would be Chinese scholar who played the guzheng (a Chinese stringed instrument) who would also be a caligropher, a poet and a painter. So it’s not just one-dimensional,” Goody said.