Reflections on “In Ink: Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting” at Royal College of Art

The application of Chinese ink transformed during the political reconfiguration of the country, as instigated by Deng Xiaoping’s Open Door policy at the end of the 20th century. With an influx of global influences and the rehabilitation of intellectuals, artists became a part of the “Reading Fever’” or “High Culture Fever” as described by Jing Wang, professor of Chinese Languages and Culture, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in her book High Culture Fever (1996). Incoming texts, although limited and dependent on the speed of translation, provided inspiration for experimental practices. A selection of consequent work is reimagined as “In Ink: Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting,” a recent exhibition at the Royal College of Art in London (9/7–13) curated by Betty Lutyens-Humfrey and Chen Lin. Through the work of six young contemporary brushwork artists—Chen Jun, Hang Chunhui, Hao Shiming Qian Zi Wen, Ma Lingli, Peng Jian and Xu Hualing—from across China, the show explored how sticks and cakes of color, traditionally ground on ink stones and used by Chinese literati in “brush and ink play,” absorbed these cultural influences and continues to evolve.

• United Kingdom
• China