Xu Bing

Square Word

Square Word provides instruction and practice space for the basic principles of New English Calligraphy, a fusion of written English and written Chinese invented and designed by artist Xu Bing. The letters of an English word are slightly altered and arranged in a square word format so that the word takes on the ostensible form of a Chinese character, yet remains legible to the English reader. The text is hand-printed in red ink on yellow rice paper and bound in booklet format. After a little practice, the words begin to become more recognizable to the reader, and the ability to create words and sentences increases.

Press: Constructed by the Artist
Date: 1994-1996
Number and Edition: 336 of 350
Size: 10.875” x 16.25”