Is ink the next thing? Evidence mounts of growing interest in Chinese ink painting – Redbox

 

 

Wenda Gu, Ink not Ink at Drexel Uni, US

CHINESE INK

 

 

 

The international debut of contemporary ink painting from China already follows the wake of enthusiasm for Chinese contemporary art says the must-read Beijing-based Chinese art news site Redbox.

Wenda Gu, untitled installation, multi-racial human hair 1994-5

Speculations of an energetic revival of ink painting have been up in the air, and it is certainly not an coincidence that these prestigious museums all set foot in the creation of dialogues between Chinese and overseas scholars on the topic of contemporary Chinese ink painting.

Redbox notes the following current and upcoming exhibitions and alliances. 

• “‘Ink not Ink”  – a traveling survey exhibition of 80 works in various media by 40 artists aims to show Chinese artists continuing exploration of Chinese traditional ink painting in a contemporary context. The show featuring Wenda Gu premiered in  Shenzhen art museum in South China and then went to Today Art Museum in Beijing before going to the Drexel University in the US . It is planned to take the show on to Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.

See installation of Wendu Gu work in Ink not Ink exhibition on video

See interview with Wenda Gu on video

See gallery of Ink not Ink images by following artists: Wenda Gu, Wei Qingji, Wang Jiawei, Yan Yinhong, Lin Tianmiao, Yang Guoxin, Peng Wei, Dai Guangyu, Wang Tiande, Wei Qingje

Lin Tianmiao

• the 2008 “The Transforming Marks of Ink” show in Berlin and Dresden, Germany (organized by the National Art Museum of China),

 

• the strong focus on the ink medium in the current “Outside IN” exhibition at the Princeton University Museum of Art,

 

• as well as the Cohen collection of works on paper in “Post-Mao Dreaming” at Smith College Museum

 

• The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has commissioned ten Chinese artists to create a work on paper inspired by a piece in the MFA collection, titled “Fresh Ink: Ten Takes on Chinese Tradition” slated for late 2010.

 

• And following “Re-Boot: Third Chengdu Biennale” in 2007, which presented a gamut of contemporary works in all media that addressed the topic of guohua (national painting) or shuimo hua (ink painting), the Metropolitan Museum has consulted with esteemed curator and scholar Shen Kuiyi to organize a large group show for Spring 2011.

To explore this story further, click over to  Redbox which has produced a thorough list of links for the above list.

You can also find  more evidence of growing international interest in Chinese ink art in our related posts section below:

Related posts:

• Chinese ink artist Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian shows 80 works in Spain – Jan  2009
• New York gallery launches 15 New Chinese Ink solo shows – Yishu – Oct 2008
• New Ink Art- Innovation and Beyond – at Hong Kong museum Sep 2008
• New Singapore musuem officially opens with contemporary Chinese ink exhibition – Sep 2008

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