Fresh Ink: Ten Takes on Chinese Tradition

by Hao Sheng (Contributor), Joe Scheier-Dolberg (Contributor), Yan Yang (Contributor)

Contemporary Chinese society has been called a culture at the crossroads of the past and the future, and nowhere is this tension more apparent than in Chinese ink painting today. Artists working in this highly traditional medium draw from a wealth of ancient themes, but must resolve them within contemporary Chinese culture. In Fresh Ink , ten of China's leading contemporary artists engage directly with the past by creating ten new works in response to older masterpieces, ranging from classical Chinese scrolls to a scholar's rock to a drip painting by Jackson Pollock. Their personal visions reflect diverse concerns and influences, whether Xu Bing's play on the absurdly monumental, Qin Feng's system of communicative signs, or the keen eye for society evident in the work of Li Jin, Yu Hong and Liu Xiaodong. An adventurous pairing of contemporary artworks with their forbears, Fresh Ink blurs the boundaries between traditional and contemporary, East and West.

206 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2010

Reviews

[Cat Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic experiment at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in which they brought ten respected Chinese artists to the museum to create work in response to some of the ancient Eastern art in the permanent collection. The responses were highly varied and always invigorating, each so interesting. I was particularly transfixed by the Xu Bing piece, an enormous scroll beautifully executed with woodcuts based on the Mustard Seed Manual first published in 1679. Xu Bing takes icons from the book and alters their arrangements in ways that take time to perceive and appreciate. His work has the same rigorous discipline of the ancient text yet he exercises full freedom to alter and twist the icons to make statements of his own. I simply love this book and think it can be equally enjoyed even now the exhibit has been dismantled. The work is immensely varied and rewards the time spent with it.