ILLUSTRATED:

Huang Gang, People's Fine Arts Publishing House, Beijing, 2008, color illustrated, p. 146

The art of Huang Gang began to present a powerfully individual style in the 1980s. From his calligraphy series to his mandala series, scripture block series, snowfield series and red five star series, all of his work has been marked by heated, overwhelming conflict, as well as the artist's deep humanist sentiments.

"When Wind Springs Up" contains the essential elements of the scripture block series. The heavy colors and abstract composition extend the passionate emotions beyond the boundaries of the picture. The unconventional and diverse materials, such as the scripture boards, imbue the work with the vastness and accumulated profundity of Tibetan Buddhism. There are many conflicts present in the image, such as the clash between cold and warm colors throughout the work, the opposition between the abstraction of the color fields and the specificity of such elements as the text in the scripture blocks, the contrast between ancient culture and contemporary aesthetics, and the wide disparity between the calligraphic techniques and the concepts of installation art. Through the deft handling of the artist, all of these conflicts fuse together, allowing the profundity and harmony of the image to take root in the heart of the viewer, even allowing the viewer to perhaps catch a fleeting glimpse of an elegant realm within the depths of the mind.