Ning Wen’s Brush and Ink: Nanjing Exhibition (Preview)

Ning Wen’s Brush and Ink: Nanjing Exhibition

Painter Dong Ningwen
Opening time 10:00 a.m., April 22, 2023
Exhibition Venue 9th Floor, Hehai Science and Technology Building, No. 70 Qingjiang South Road, Gulou District, Nanjing City
Organizing entity Jiangsu Provincial Association for Sino-Foreign Social and Cultural Exchanges, Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Enterprises, Jiangsu Provincial Entrepreneurs Association, Taihe Law Firm
Organizing Unit Nanjing Zhengyatang Art Museum
Co-organizing unit Jiangsu Belt and Road International Legal Services Alliance, Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Overseas Chinese Cultural and Artistic Committee, Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics General Store, Xinhua All-Media Art, Nanjing Ten Dynasties Art Museum, Suzhou Xu Beihong Art Museum, Twenty-Four-Hour Art Museum, Nanjing Yao Art Museum, Qunxue Academy, Qingxuan Academy, Kaipian Academy, Xinmutang.   
Curating Cai Yuxi
Media Support: Guangming Online, China.org.cn, Phoenix News, the “Study in China” platform, Tencent News, China Arts Net, Bohua Arts Net, China Artists Network, China Culture and Art Network, China Art Investment Network, Jiangnan Times, Deep Suzhou, Suzhou Art Chronicle, Yinli Broadcast, Jiaohuidian, China Fine Arts Daily, China Calligraphy and Painting Daily, Qingqing World Magazine, and Xiujiangnan Magazine.

Artist’s Resume

Dong Ningwen, who also goes by the pen names Zicong and Shuolu, was born in Nanjing in the mid-1960s. He began studying painting in the early 1980s and, in the mid-1990s, turned to editing and writing. To date, he has published and contributed over ten works totaling more than one million characters. He currently serves as executive editor-in-chief of “Kaijuan” and “Yilin Book Review,” and is a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Writers Association, a director of the Nanjing Writers Association, and a contracted writer with the Nanjing Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
His major works include “Human Connections and Literary Bonds” (Southeast University Press), “Idle Chats Over Books,” Volumes 1 through 10 (published by Phoenix Publishing House, Yuelu Press, Hunan Education Press, and Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House), “Idle Chats Over Books” and its sequel “Further Idle Chats Over Books” (Wenhui Publishing House), “Ningwen in Freehand Style” (Anhui Education Press), “The Lineage of Books and Human Connections” (Qingdao Publishing House), and “Written on the Margins of Reading” (Wenhui Publishing House), among others.
Since the 1990s, his calligraphy and painting works have been exhibited in national as well as provincial and municipal art shows, earning awards on occasion, with over a hundred pieces now held in institutional and private collections. He has also mounted numerous solo exhibitions in Nanjing, Hefei, Haining, Suzhou, Liyang, Chengdu, Mianyang, Shijiazhuang, and other cities.

Preface to “Ning Wen’s Brush and Ink: Nanjing Exhibition”
In recent years, Taihe·Zhengyatang has organized numerous calligraphy and painting exhibitions, pioneering a humanistic approach to judicial administration. This has transformed the traditionally austere and rigid image of legal proceedings, reinvigorating the Chinese legal ethos that places people at its core, integrates Confucian and Legalist principles, and harmonizes reason with emotion—truly a cause for celebration. I am confident that this fresh perspective will surely blossom into a gentle spring breeze, nurturing a vibrant array of initiatives within the legal community dedicated to alleviating public hardship and resolving societal challenges.
 

Title: Xijiang Landscape Artist: Dong Ningwen Size: 34 x 69 cm Year: Xinwei Year
Since his inaugural exhibition in Nanjing, Ning Wen has, in just a few short years, traveled across the country, sowing seeds of artistic inspiration wherever he went and reaping abundant rewards. He has pioneered a new approach to literati painting—infusing calligraphy and ink into the art, nurturing the mind through painting, forging friendships via brush and brushwork, and sharing beauty with like-minded peers. Rooted in traditional Chinese culture, imbued with a deep sense of national devotion and a commitment to practical engagement with the world, he finds solace and self‑cultivation in the leisurely pursuit of calligraphy and painting during moments of respite from study and composition. With reading as his foundation and ink and brush as his medium, he has fashioned a refined aesthetic that stands on its own.
 

Title: Painting of Clouds Ascending Higher Artist: Dong Ningwen, Tang Yin Fang Dimensions: 36 x 70 cm Year: 2019
 

Title: Golden Season Authors: Dong Ningwen, Fang Daile, Liu Dashí Period: The Gengwu Year
Taihe·Zhengyatang’s bond with Ning Wen’s brush and ink has itself become a cherished feature of the Jinling art scene. As we stand at the cusp of spring and summer—when grasses flourish, warblers sing, and myriad blossoms burst into bloom—we gather at Zhengyatang to savor and contemplate at our leisure.
On the sixteenth day of the second leap month of the Gui-Mao year, Cai Yuxi wrote this in Hexi, Jinling.

Appreciation of Dong Ningwen’s Calligraphy and Painting Works

Name: Morning Fun Author ： Dong Ningwen Zhou Chen Size: 45x52cm Year: Year of the Ji-Si

Name: Painting of a Mountain Retreat Authors: Dong Ningwen, Xu Hongquan Size: 63x43cm Year: Year of the Dog

Name: Morning Melody Author: Dong Ningwen Pu Xiong Size: 38x76cm Year: Wuxu Year
 

Name: The Tranquil Charm of the Pond Author: Dong Ningwen Pu Xiong Year: Year of the Earth Dragon
 

Name: A familiar sight—swallows have returned. Author: Dong Ningwen, Xu Hongquan Size: 46x64cm Year: Wuxu Year
 

Name: Mid-Autumn Night Author: Dong Ningwen Pu Xiong Year: 2019