Money Well Spent

by Mathieu Beth Tan

Ok, so apart from real estate or technology, the most expensive purchase I’ve ever made was on a whole bag of books. If my calculations are right, I once spent close to a thousand dollars on books, either as gifts or for personal use. What comes next in terms of expenditure is this piece of calligraphy. My wife and I commissioned the great Lewis Huang of Taiwan to write out, with brush and ink, a Bible verse in traditional Chinese characters, which he did, willingly and cheerfully. And it was beautiful. Look at it! He even recorded a behind-the-scenes so that we could watch how his process unfolded from scratch. Talk about elevating the experience of art, which, by the way, goes beyond the art itself.

As I’ve said before, I believe in miracles, yet I wouldn’t go as far as to call this a miracle. But this verse, written thousands of years ago, had travelled through time to meet me here today, in my living room, to deliver a simple message — a message my wife and I so desperately needed to hear in this definitive period of our lives.

And when we’re gone, it will continue its journey into the future.

That’s the great thing about great art. Whether it’s a sculpture, a painting, or an excerpt of ancient literature, the more you gaze at it, the more you realise that it carries a kind of perfection, a kind that would speak the right words at the right time, just like how this verse spoke to me.

Truly powerful works of art have the ability to encourage us through difficult times, and this piece did exactly that for us. My hope is that whoever enters our home will not only witness this beautiful masterpiece, but also experience it speaking to them, too.

Man! Ever since I took that leap of faith to enter Taiwan, I felt as if a new part of me had been born. And did I ever think of spending a hefty sum on a work of Chinese calligraphy? No! And no, I’m no art expert. But to invest in something, as the saying goes, is to accept the cost — any cost — as money well spent.