四季展廳
Ningxin Tao
Oracle Bone Paintings Collection
Starting 2018, I created over a dozen oracle bone paintings, expressing Eastern and Western proverbs or significant themes, blending ancient characters with a contemporary touch for cultural appreciation, combining old and new in a totally unique manner. This art style, invented by my dad, is a family legacy I aspire to pass on through my work.
International Shufa Association Youth Branch
President
Ningxin Tao
Special Introduction
The Limited prints of two paintings, Good Luck and Happiness and Beautiful Flowers and a Full Moon created by Ningxin Tao have already sold many copies. Ningxin has donated all to the association.
International Shufa Association
1. Good Luck and Happiness
Ningxin Tao, 2018
Acrylic and ink on paper, 11x14 in
This painting contains four oracle bone script characters, which offer an expression of blessing usually used in Chinese culture.
2. Beautiful Flowers and a Full Moon
Ningxin Tao, 2018
Acrylic and ink on paper, 11x14 in
Beautiful flowers and a full moon is a Chinese idiom, also a blessing, used to wish people a good life and family reunion. This painting contains four oracle bone script characters. The good in these four characters is the pattern of a mother holding her child — the best emotion of human beings.
3. The Carp has Leaped Through the Dragon's Gate
Ningxin Tao, 2018
Acrylic and ink on paper, 11x14 in
This painting contains four oracle bone script characters, fish, leap, dragon and gate. This Chinese idiom comes from an ancient myth that states when carp swim upstream in the Yellow River to a place called Longmen （dragon's gate), and they can jump over the rapids, they will turn into dragons and fly to the sky. This idiom has always been used to describe people's career success.
4. Always Keep the Original Intention of Goodness
Ningxin Tao, 2018
Acrylic and ink on paper, 11x14 in
This painting contains four oracle bone script characters, among which the character original is a baby wrapped in clothes, and the character heart is directly drawn in the shape of a heart.
5. The Seven Stars of the Big Dipper
Ningxin Tao, 2018
Acrylic and ink on paper, 11x14 in
In ancient times, people could use the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper to indicate direction. This oracle bone painting expresses that people need to be guided in the right direction in their life.
6. The Benevolent Loves Others
Ningxin Tao, 2018
Acrylic and ink on paper, 11x14 in
The four oracle bone script characters in this painting express the most important core values in Chinese traditional culture. Confucianism believes that the basic point of being benevolent and loving others is to regard others as their own kind, that is, to regard others as the same as themselves.
Seven-Color Light Series
1. The Pure Heart of a Newborn Baby
Ningxin Tao, 2020
Acrylic and gold paint on wood, 18x24 in
This painting uses four oracle bone script characters to express the highest evaluation of human nature in Chinese culture since ancient times, that is, a person should always maintain the purest mind that they have at birth, one that has not polluted by society.
2. Do Well and Have Well
Ningxin Tao, 2020
Acrylic and gold paint on wood, 18x24 in
This oracle bone painting, using four characters, is based on an English proverb, Do well and have well, which encapsulates the same meaning as the Chinese idiom Kindness is rewarded with goodness.
3. The Early Bird Catches the Worm
Ningxin Tao, 2020
Acrylic and gold paint on wood, 18x24 in
This is an oracle painting based on an English proverb. It is translated into Chinese with five oracle bone script characters, early, bird, have, worm, eat. The interesting part of this painting work is that the oracle bone script characters bird and worm are pure pictographs, but they are actually two simple strokes.
4. Actions Not Words
— Mayfield Senior School Motto —
Ningxin Tao, 2019
Acrylic and gold paint on wood, 18x24 in
The content of this oracle bone painting is Mayfield Senior School's motto. This sentence captures my values for taking action and serving my communities very clearly, and is completely consistent with the motto of my father's alma mater, Tsinghua University, Actions speak louder than words.
5. In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen
— Columbia University Motto —
Ningxin Tao, 2021
Acrylic and gold paint on wood, 18x24 in
The English expression of the Latin phrase, which also happens to be the school motto of Columbia University, is In the Light Shall We See Light, and when translated into Chinese, it can be written into four oracle bone script characters: got, light, see, and bright.
6. A Good Book is a Good Friend
Ningxin Tao, 2022
Acrylic and gold paint on wood, 18x24 in
There are five oracle bone script characters in this oracle bone painting created by translating English proverbs. They are: good, book, are, fine and friend.
7. Don't You Dream Impossible Things
— Taylor Swift —
Ningxin Tao, 2018
Acrylic and gold paint on wood, 18x24 in
In 2022, I created an oracle bone painting with a lyric from the singer Taylor Swift. The expression in Chinese is the phrase that people often say and hope to realize: To Make a Dream Come True.
An English Painting
Love
Ningxin Tao, 2018
Acrylic and ink on paper, 11x14 in
