1989: If there is an art form we can glean from the many
photographs and videos of the Tiananmen Square Demonstrations in
1989, it must be found in the multi-hued banners that converged
on the Square and surrounding streets made by the students from
different universities around China. Often their
idiosyncratically-painted Chinese characters contrasted
stylistically, yet intricately, to compose, as seen from a
distance, rich textures of abstract gestural markings to the
millions who watched around the world without more than a guess
as to translations. They are best seen the nearer in date we
come to the government's crackdown, such as on May 13, when the
students began a hunger strike in anticipation of the highly-
publicized state visit of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, which
sent spontaneous crowds streaming in. Or when the government
declared martial law on May 20th. It seemed that each new
official call for the demonstrators and students to leave the
square brought still more demonstrators and students,