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Traditional Art Form Takes on the City
It is likely that the new millennium will see the traditional art of Chinese ink painting start concentrating on urban life.
Modern city life, rather than rural themes which have dominated Chinese ink painting for centuries, has begun to interest artists.
The Second Shenzhen International Biennale of Ink Painting, which runs until Friday at the Guan Shanyue Art Museum in the city, displays some of the new artistic visions of Chinese and foreign ink painters.
With the theme of "ink painting and city life," the grand exhibition features 372 works by 147 artists from more than 10 countries. It is sponsored by the Shenzhen municipal government and organized by the Shenzhen Art Academy and the Guan Shanyue Art Museum, a major art venue in the emerging international art centre neighbouring Hong Kong.
This year's show, the second since 1998, is a major attempt to expand the domain of ink painting to help the ancient art survive and develop in the modern world.
"In today's China, it has been natural for film, literature, drama and even Peking Opera to cover modern city life. But that's not the case for Chinese ink painting," said art critic Lang Shaojun.
According to Lang, it has been taken for granted that Chinese ink painting only depicts pastoral environments and the life of the old, agricultural society. Since the beginning of the 20th century, there have been worries about whether the seemingly "irrelevant" art form has any reason to exist in a modern society distinguished by rapid urbanization. There have also been discussions about whether the traditional methods of the art form are capable of reflecting modern city life.
"The Shenzhen show is proof that Chinese ink painting is a dynamic art form that has potential to flourish," Shao Dazhen, a professor from the Beijing-based Central Academy of Fine Arts, told a symposium following the opening of the exhibition.
Most of the exhibits were painted in the past two years, many made especially to meet the theme of the exhibition. They touch upon almost every aspect of modern city life, from the changes taking place to the urban landscape to the new lifestyle trends of Chinese urbanites and the cultural collisions that occur in cities.
In his figurative work "Street and Neighbourhood," Fujian artist Lin Rongsheng depicts an old southern town being engulfed by the tide of modernization. On the road, a "China Telecom" telephone and an electricity pole with power lines cutting into the sky stand quietly next to the old houses, provoking thoughts about the past, present and future of the town.
Different from Lin's landscape, which has been noted for its figurative nature and indigenous style, Shenzhen artist Dong Xiaoming's "World of Ink - Prague" is in every way reminiscent of a European impressionist oil painting, although his roots still show.
In the picture, the buildings of a European city take semi-abstract shapes. Dong uses ink in the same way as oil, creating a firm, cubic effect.
A number of the Chinese artists chose to paint Western city scenes for the exhibition, mostly as records of their travels abroad. The traditional media of Chinese ink and Xuan paper create an interesting effect when paired with Western images.
The works by Jiri Straka, an artist from the Czech Republic, however, are a view from the other side - an understanding of cultural conflicts in modern Chinese cities through a foreigner's eyes.
In his "Collecting Chrysanthemums," for example, Straka captures a lingering nostalgia for the past in contemporary Chinese society by painting a modern man smelling a bunch of chrysanthemums on a street. Members of the literati in old China used to collect chrysanthemums to symbolize their longing for a hermit-like life in the countryside.
Chinese artists Huang Yihan's "Chinese New New Generation - Cartoon Age" and Shi Guo's "Poster No 1 - Contest of Super Models" are certainly among the most experimental works in the exhibition.
The trendy Chinese youngsters in Huang's work represent a special group of urbanites growing up under the strong influence of Western cartoons and modern pop culture.
Such violent images are incredible to see in a traditional Chinese ink painting, which is supposed to stress peace and harmony.
Huang's work is in sharp contrast with works by innovative, but older artists such as Lu Chen, whose figurative painting "Square" tries to maintain a balance between the modern and the traditional.
Shi Guo's work breaks away from traditional styles even more drastically. His painting is like an abstract poster by a modern designer.
Although welcoming the experimental works in the show, Professor Shao Dazhen pointed out that Chinese ink painting can be modernized without completely breaking with the past.
"Ink paintings depicting rural landscapes and people are still necessary today. Originality and modernity can be obtained using traditional styles," Shao said.
"A number of works in the exhibition are overly Westernized, both in concept and technique," Shao said. "It would be a tragedy to reform Chinese ink painting just by copying Western modern art."
Some experts say that many of the works in the Shenzhen exhibition are superficial and lack a deep understanding of the city. Urban life is about more than cars and high-rises, they say.
(www.chinadaily.com.cn)
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