In European Modernist art at the beginning of this century, words and texts were introduced not so much for their specific meaning as for the visual allure of the written word. In China, the written word has always had a dimension beyond the meaning it carried, with its physical appearance accorded the same level of significance as that of fine art. Power of the Word presents a variety of works-paintings, drawings, video, photography, graffiti, prints, and a computer installation-by nine Chinese artists who both celebrate and critique the conventions associated with the written word.

Breaking with the 2,000-year-old traditions of Chinese calligraphic art, these artists reassess the aesthetic and cultural assumptions of China's word-based society. Their permutations of calligraphy reflect a fresh understanding of the relationship between language and art, often stimulated by interaction with Western culture. Some of the works elucidate the parameters of the written word as pictorial art; others reflect on Chinese calligraphic tradition from the perspective of foreign cultures, where the meaning of Chinese writing becomes invalid or relative. Some artists introduce an element of absurdity and formal anti-narrative within calligraphic art by undoing the pretense of "meaning" through misprinted, wrongly written, or invented word forms.

Several of the artists represented in the exhibition have been trained at art academies. Others (Hung Tung and the King of Kowloon) are self-trained, demonstrating the power of Chinese words to shape the way barely literate people visualize the world. The exhibition also presents facsimile examples of the calligraphy of Mao Zedong (Hunan/Beijng), China's first Communist leader (1949-76), considered one of the most accomplished calligraphers of his time. Guest curator Chang Tsong-zung, is an art critic and scholar living in Hong Kong.