PUBLISHED October 6th, 2015 11:33 am | UPDATED June 23rd, 2020 09:10 pm
The history of Chinese ink painting started around 100 AD with the invention of paper and has over the millennia become one of the most distinctive aesthetic expressions of Chinese culture, analogous to oil painting in the West.
This exhibition introduces Modern Ink, a new direction in Chinese ink that has exploded to the forefront of Chinese art over the past few years, propelled by the energy of the eighties generation of artists. Modern Ink as a fusion of Chinese traditions with contemporary modes of expression. It is distinctively Chinese yet has a strong international appeal. Modern Ink artists seek to capture the essential atmosphere and inner spirit that has come to define Chinese ink, but they do not observe the rigid constraints of technique, style, subject and composition passed down from their predecessors.
Today, the discourse on contemporary art is synonymous with the discourse of western contemporary art. Far more than just a contemporary take on the traditional Chinese ink medium, Modern Ink is a reflective search for the meaning of modernity in China. This exhibition explores how one group of artists are responding to this challenge and claiming an artistic identity within a venerable tradition.
Ink! is on display at L4 ION Art gallery, from Wednesday 7 October till Wednesday, 14 October 2015, from 10.30 am to 8.30 pm daily. You can join the artists Xie Chong, Xu Hua Xin and Zhang Wen at the opening vernissage on Friday, 9 October 2015, at the ION Art Gallery, from 6pm to 8pm. For more information, visit the [website](http://www.ionorchard.com/en/ion-art/item/148-ink).