Huang Yao was born to a literati family in 1914 in Shanghai. Trained by his father, Huang was familiar with a range of calligraphic styles. Huang resided in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand before finally settling permanently in Malaysia in 1956. A total of 23 solo and group exhibitions and 6 retrospective exhibitions have been held in his name. He also drew comics under the pseudonym of Niu Bi Zi. Wenzi hua (Calligraphic Paintings) is a significant aspect of Huang’s scholarly contributions to the artistic and literary fields.Huang is known for his unique creation of “wenzi hua” (calligraphic painting) which is the amalgamation of traditional Chinese culture and calligraphy, expressed in often seemingly abstract form. He took great delight in studying the ancient forms of the characters before deconstructing and recombining them. The poem by Tang poet Liu Changqing (c. 709-786) is written on four separate papers, each illustrating a line from it.
