Hsu Hui-Chih is a Taipei-based ink artist who is also known as one of the leading contemporary Chinese literature writers and creatives in Taiwan. Born in Taoyuan, Taiwan in 1966, Hsu Hui-Chih made his name as a successful poet and writer at a young age, receiving numerous awards – including the prestigious Golden Tripod Award – and having his works translated into multiple languages. With a degree in chemical engineering, Hsu began a career in editing at one of Taiwan's leading newspapers, Liberty Times and later became the editor-in-chief of Unitas Magazine. He currently also serves as director of the National Culture and Arts Foundation. Hsu established publishing company Route Culture Co. Ltd. in 2009 with aims of promoting local literary culture, publishing books, and hosting events relevant to readers' daily lives. In addition to successful literary publications, Hsu has also published several significant books for Taiwan's prominent Buddhist organisations and influential Dharma practitioners, as he himself is a practitioner of Buddhism. Hsu's unique spiritual background has been the inspiration behind his creations, often providing rich nutrients for his art works. As a writer, Hsu has published numerous poetry and prose books. His poetry publications include Sunlight Beehive (1990), Book of Reincarnation (2002), Sailing to Formosa: A Poetic Companion to Taiwan (co-edited with Göran Malmqvist & Michelle Yeh, 2005), The Lost Khata: a Collection of Hsu Hui-chih's audio poems (2006), The Deer's Sorrows (Japanese translation, 2006), and the most recent Don't Gently Wander Into that Sorrowful Night (2020). His prose works include Eyes, Ears, Noses, and Tongues (1993), May My Heart Be Like the Ocean (2018), and The Flowers Have Fallen Asleep Just Now (2019), amongst others. In 1994, he even wrote a children's book titled The Star's Exercise Book.
Read MoreHsu Hui-Chih began his career as an artist composing poems and transcribing sacred Buddhist scriptures. He used Chinese calligraphy and experimented with different kinds of paper, pigments and tools, thoroughly exploring the possibilities of ink art. With a background strongly influenced by Asian culture, Hsu's works are not only timeless but also without boundaries. They express poetic aesthetics and rhythm through words and imagination, often cumulating in metaphorical and philosophical pieces with an atmosphere of mystique. Hsu made his exhibition as an already emerging artist in 2017 with his sutra transcription works – which he had accumulated through the years – as well as other calligraphic works and ink art. He has since participated in joint exhibitions such as ART Taipei and ART Shanghai. His solo exhibitions include "Your Eyes Are Generations of My Reincarnated Soul" at the Caves Art Center in 2018, "Dharma Offering of Ink: Solo Exhibition by Hsu Hui-Chih" at the Fo Guang Yuan Main Art Gallery in Fo Guang Shan in 2019, and "Flourishing Amidst Dreams – Hsu Hui-chih's Ink Art" at DaGuan Art Gallery in 2020. He was also invited to participate in the "Between Earth & the Sea: The Spiritual Art of Our Times" group exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 2020 as part of the "Word, Therapy" plan.
