About art
Focus on Chinese Contemporary Ink
See how the traditional medium takes a modern twist and grows with the time and environment
Cleo Tse
Tuesday 26 July, 2022
Ink painting has been around for over 3,000 years, and it is produced with water and ink. Traditional themes usually include mountains, water (“shan shui” in mandarin), nature and landscapes.
We’ve invited five Hong Kong galleries to answer questions on this beautiful style of artwork, to help you familiarise yourself in no time! Hear from the experts on how artists have used this medium to rewrite the rules of classical tradition, with dramatic and stunning effects.
What are the biggest differences between traditional ink and contemporary ink painting?
”The two main differences between traditional and contemporary ink painting would be the ways to paint and the room for expression.
Regarding the ways to paint, from our ancestors’ teachings, traditional ways focus a lot on the brushes. They can be flat, circle, thick, thin and a lot more variations. It also depends on the artists in terms of the expressiveness and the Qi (air and mood, how the whole painting flows). While contemporary ink painting does not only focus on brushes and come with further styles, encouraging audience to take long time to interpret and appreciate.
Regarding the room of expressions, we learnt ink painting from imitating previous works as for building the foundation. Learning from previous masterpieces are extremely helpful to develop our skills as we learn from their strokes and rules, and even try to step into their shoes and find out what they were thinking! Quite the contrary, contemporary ink painting doesn’t start with imitation, it’s more free-flow as the painting doesn’t start with a draft. The creativity with boldness and rounding up with delicacy has large expanded the room of expression.”
Winnie Leung, HK NEW INK
What are the common symbols and elements? What do they mean?
“Water and ink themselves are already a symbol or element. They contain the thoughts of artists and contemporary ink artists have been well utilising them to express their thoughts. The combination of ink and water creates huge uncertainty, while the usage of brushes, paper, silk or any other new materials and new methods (such as digital photos, 3D graphics and collage etc) are all supported by water and ink in artworks, therefore the development of contemporary ink can be traced back to traditional ink.
For contemporary ink, new concepts is THE main symbol or element. The rise of concept-based contemporary ink has added a hint of fun and excitement. For example, my works use scrolls as an element to express the meaning behind, the element itself supports the story I want to express as I think everyone is like a book and deserves to be appreciated and read. With the use of scrolls, it also expresses the current floating world vision. It can be said that symbols are the containers of the thoughts of artists in ink painting.”
– Jia Liu, K & J Gallery
What are the usual topics and skills of Chinese contemporary ink paintings?
Liu continued to share, ”Usually the expression of thoughts is through portraying some objects. From my works, I express what I think and see including the nature, flower and birds, human figures, animals and scrolls. These themes can assist me to depict the world in my mind. In order to trace the world better, all skills are helpful!”
“Various mediums are used too, such as sugar, salt, plastic, milk and tea leaves… the ultimate purpose is to clearly show the visitors what the artists are thinking about. I think artworks with in-depth thoughts and able to express the spirits of Confucius are all good extension of Chinese paintings and able to stay strong in the flow of time. It’s not only for decoration, but the skills and themes are both serving for the ideas and concepts.”
How should a visitor appreciate contemporary ink painting?
“I believe appreciation comes naturally with understanding. I would encourage visitors to go to museums and art fairs, so, to expose themselves to lots of good works. When one sees enough good works, one naturally will develop a sense of what is good and bad. In addition, reading good books and talking to experts are important.”
– Oi Ling Chiang, Oi Ling
What should visitors pay attention to if they want to start collecting ink painting?
Oi Ling further shared, “What makes a piece of artwork good is first and foremost the artist’s talent and that he puts his heart and soul to his art. We look at its composition, expression and use of colours and see if it is unique or if it is just repeating what has been done before.
It is important that the artist is doing something different and has its own style instead of being repetitive. When a piece is done well, it touches you. There are many works today that incorporate design concepts and are done to please the eyes or for decoration. I personally value art that has no agenda but a spontaneous expression of deep feelings. “
