Pseudo-hieroglyphic painting and landscape philosophy in China in the 1980s – using the examples of Gu Wenda and Xu Bing

The 1985 New Wave art movement became a key stage in the development of contemporary Chinese art in the 20th century. Although its name refers to 1985, this movement covers a broader temporal and cultural context –from 1985 to 1989 – and includes exhibitions, theoretical discourse, and individual artistic practices. The closure of China / Avant-Garde exhibition in 1989 symboli-cally marked the end of this period. 1985 New Wave, being the first avant-garde movement in China, opened the way to unprecedented creative freedom and had a profound impact on the philosophical foundations of contemporary Chinese art. A unique trend that emerged within this movement was the use of Chinese characters as an artistic medium. This article focuses on analyzing the creative strategies of Gu Wenda and Xu Bing, whose practices combine tradi-tional shanshui landscape painting with the concept of pseudo-hieroglyphs. The study examines both the visual aspect of their work, and the deeper philosophical layers related to language, de-construction of meaning, and criticism of ideological structures. It demonstrates how visual form and writing become tools for cultural transformation.