Back by Cai Guangbin Photo: Courtesy of G. Dot
Art Space
Three Chinese artists currently based in Beijing
want to bring Chinese ink painting back into contemporary Chinese art. By using
inks traditionally applied in Chinese landscapes dating back to the Tang dynasty
(618-907), they aim to preserve the cultural significance of ink in
contemporary Chinese art while forging ahead with pieces inspired more by Pop
Art and Surrealism from the West.
The ink-focused trio of Nan Qi, Cai Guangbin and
Zhang Quan will present their works in the exhibit In Retrospect, which runs
March 30 through April 28 at the G. Dot Art Space on Central Gallery Street in
the Songzhuang Art District in Tongzhou district.
Nan, Zhang and Cai treat Chinese ink as their
essential medium, but don't use the techniques normally associated with it.
Chinese ink paintings traditionally present the essence of an object using
brush strokes to capture the object's metaphysical properties. In Retrospect,
however, shows work based on modern photographic images rather than
interpretive brushwork. The exhibition's title suggests a call back to history,
yet Chinese ink appears to form only the surface of what seems more a tribute
to Western art of the 20th century.
Featured prints from Nan, 53, from Zhejiang
Province, depict the People's Liberation Army in a style reminiscent of Andy
Warhol's icon portraits of Marilyn Monroe and other celebrities. Nan's print
Bearing Arms in the Square applies Chinese ink to pigment similar to Roy
Lichtenstein's comic illustrations.
Nan says his work takes after Western art
movements, though he insists it is culturally authentic. He says his prints
have their own "personalized artistic language," which he says forms
much of the thinking behind contemporary Chinese ink painting.
"Chinese ink lies at the heart of the
Chinese artistic spirit," he says. "[It's] perfectly natural to take
influence from Western art of the last century." He says he and his peers
featured in the exhibit have maintained tradition by working mostly with
Chinese ink that's been ground and diluted using ink stick and ink stone.
Nan's use of Chinese ink is limited to variations
on the color red. His application of red ink on photographic prints tends to
produce faded, watered-down tones. But this shows a strong connection to
traditional Chinese ink wash paintings that often revolve around repeated color
schemes.
However, Cai, commenting on Nan's Bearing Arms in
the Square, says this use of color more resembles Pop Art than Chinese ink
painting.
"Nan uses bright and dazzling colors similar
to Warhol, whereas Zhang and I tend to use more gray inks in our work. I think
Nan's use of color is actually very close to Pop Art," says Cai, 50, originally
from Heilongjiang Province. His paintings vividly show the forms of ghoulish
figures curled up in dark, dank corners.
In Zhang's Bridge on the Yangtze River, an iron
bridge traced in harsh gray ink floats between barely distinguishable sky and
water, a landscape similar in eeriness to those of Max Ernst in his Surrealist
period.
Of the three featured artists, Zhang comes
closest to capturing the main ideas guiding Chinese ink painting. Zhang, 46, a
Hubei Province native, uses mostly photographs which are later reproduced on
grainy surfaces and colored with ink to achieve abstract images.
In Retrospect's artists share one common artistic
goal. However, the exhibition will likely divide viewers over whether they
ultimately achieve what they set out to. The attempt to merge two artistic
traditions across a gulf of centuries and cultural distinctions is one that
visibly represents a struggle in each artwork. But the size of that struggle
overall may well be worth its weight in ink.