薛平南   Xue, Ping-Nan   1945~

Born in Qieding township, Kaohsiung county, Taiwan, in 1945, Ping-Nan Xue knew nothing about calligraphy throughout his school days. It was not until his enrollment in Taiwan Provincial Junior Teachers’ College in 1964 that he became fascinated with calligraphy under the imperceptible influence of his classmates. Xue entered the Division of Art Design, National Academy of Arts in 1968, after which he sat at the feet of Pu-Tong Lee to improve his skills with calligraphy and started out on his career as an artist. Since 1973, Xue has sat at the feet of Zhuang-Wei Wang to learn seal engraving, and has been construed as one of Wang’s seven outstanding disciples. The two masters’ mentorship provided the artist with a sound foundation for his mastery of calligraphy and seal engraving, two fields in which he tends to find great spiritual freedom and delight. Xue has achieved outstanding performance in calligraphy, mastering seal, clerical, standard, running and cursive scripts. While preserving the essence of traditions, he does not confine himself to limited horizons but tries to be a trail blazer. The artist is particularly proficient in seal script and the tablet inscriptions of the Northern Wei Dynasty. His calligraphic works in these two fields demonstrate an eclectic yet mesmerizing mix of the Stele School’s vigorous boldness and the graceful traditions established by Xi-Zhi Wang and Xian-Zhi Wang. Xue’s calligraphic works have been granted many accolades by the art community. In terms of seal engraving, the artist is highly skilled with ancient and Han seals. He tends to exhibit the aesthetic quality of calligraphy and create a kaleidoscopic world on the microscopic square of the inked surface of each of his seal works. Bestowed with numerous prestigious awards such as the Zhongxing Literary and Artistic Awards (calligraphy category), the National Literary and Artistic Awards, the First Prize of seal engraving category in the Taiwan Province Art Exhibition, and the Zhongshan Literary and Artistic Creation Award, the artist has successively taught calligraphy and seal engraving at the National Academy of Arts, the National Institute of the Arts and Shih Hsin University. He formerly served as the chairman of the director board of the Chinese Standard Cursive Script Association as well as a member of the jury for the Zhongshan Literary and Artistic Creation Award, the National Fine Arts Exhibition, the Taiwan Province Art Exhibition, and many other municipal art exhibitions. The artist has made a successful career for himself in calligraphy art.