Page 62 - Contenporary Ink Chinese Painting Nov 27 2017 Hong Kong

A NEW GENERATION His lines emulate the texture of mountains, water and trees
with lines swirling across the composition, as if the landscape
The following fifteen ink paintings are presented together not is constantly growing in front of the viewers.
because they share a uniform artistic style or subject matter,
but because the artists behind these works are the emerging New ink art movements have been born in Hong Kong
power of the category – young and born after 1970, they offer independent of that in Mainland China since the 1960s. Artists
new ways of thinking about Chinese ink painting as a dynamic such as Eric Ho Kay-nam (Lot 856) studied fine art and design
form of visual expression full of possibilities. in Canada, and his works depict the cityscape of Hong Kong
that Ho grew up in. Chui Pui Chee (Lot 855) is trained at the
When Chinese contemporary ink first emerged as an Chinese University of Hong Kong before furthering his study
independent artistic category, much focus was cast on the in calligraphy at the China Academy of Art. As the title of the
generation of artists directly impacted by the history and painting suggests, his work humorously references the local
politics of China in the 1960s and 1970s. After China opened contemporary culture, particularly Cantonese pop music in the
its door in 1979 many of these artists went to Europe and early 1990s.
the United States, using ink and brush while embracing
the art and philosophies from the West. The result has
been a unique burst of creativity that sharply contrasts with
20th century ink painting that still dominates in Mainland
China today. The thirteen artists featured here come from
Mainland China and Hong Kong, with diverse backgrounds
in terms of training and education that influence their career
trajectories in different ways.

As the capital city, Beijing has historically attracted talented
artists. Born in 1974, Peng Wei moved to Beijing in 2000
after graduating from Nankai University. Influenced by her
artist father Peng Xiancheng, Peng Wei quickly found her
own artistic vocabulary and established herself as one of
the most significant ink artists of her generation. In her
Beautiful Brocade series (Lots 843, 844), Peng reconnects
with tradition by using antique brocade and silk embroidery,
yet her contemporary interpretation allows her to build an
ever-changing relationship with her own past. The Central
Academy of Fine Arts, one of the most prestigious in China,
also produces many distinguished young ink artists such as
Tan Jun (Lot 857) and Guo Hui (Lot 853).

Gao Qian (Lot 847, 886), Shen Ning (Lot 854), and Zhou
Xue (Lot 848) are part of the new fine brush (xin gong bi)
movement active in Nanjing. The ancient capital has provided
fertile ground for a generation of young artists who excelled
in fine brush painterly skills but are also bold to incorporate
contemporary elements. Zhu Xiaoqing (Lot 845), from Suzhou,
offers a refined reworking of the landscape tradition.

Peng Jian (Lot 850), a native of Hunan, graduated from the ink
painting department at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou,
where he currently lives. Peng is fascinated by the grids and
lines as an abstract division of space. In Limit No.3, Peng’s grid
takes form of a meticulously painted mosquito net, offering
an obstructed view of the city through the window. Zeng
Guoqing (Lot 852), on the other hand, studied printmaking
and incorporated this visual language in his ink painting of
cityscapes.

Contemporary ink art is also about experimenting with media.
Chu Chu (Lot 846) from Hangzhou is trained in multimedia,
oil painting and calligraphy. A student of Wang Dongling,
Chu combines cursive calligraphy and her black and white
photography to form her imagery. Lin Guocheng (Lot 851), who
studied at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Art, moved to Beijing
and uses both a pen and ink brush to create complex, dreamlike
landscapes. Inspired by early modern European sketches,
Lin uses pen to draw lines that formulate his landscape.

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