Additional Images

Provenance:

Schmidt Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, PA;
Private Collection, Montreal, QC, acquired from the above

Note:

Traditional Chinese history, painting, calligraphy and poetry has long formed the core of Wei Jia’s practice. These traditional arts are then combined with abstract elements. Wei Jia’s emigration to the United States in 1985 introduced themes of cultural displacement, as well as new Western influences.
This painting takes a line from a piece of writing by Chinese poet Su Shi (1037-1101). Su Shi was a major personage in the Song era, known for his roles as a political figure as well as an artist, writer and calligrapher. One of Su Shi’s most well-known works is his “Ode to the Red Cliff 赤壁赋” which remembers the Battle of the Red Cliff in 208 AD. The poem is a meditation on history, human nature and the brevity of life. The work became so famous that the site Su Shi visited became known as “Dongpo’s Red Cliff,” Dongpo being Su Shi’s art name.
The line that Wei Jia excerpts from the poem, “浩浩乎如冯虚御风，而不知其所止；飘飘乎如遗世独 立，羽化而登仙。” translates as “Like a piece of reed, our boat drifted on a boundless expanse of water, so vast that we felt as if we were riding in the wind, not knowing when to come to a halt. We felt so ethereal as if we were ascending into heaven and becoming winged immortal.”
Many traditional paintings have been made of Su Shi’s visit to the Red Cliff, and this work by Wei Jia can be read as a modern, text-based portrait of the famous poet.