Not all ink art has to feature ink. An exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art shows it can also take the form of a piece dusted with gunpowder or marked with burned holes. It can even be an installation of a life-sized dining table and chairs.
Titled 'New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond' and guest curated by the head of Ink Society Hong Kong, Alice King, the exhibition has gathered 64 works by nearly 30 Chinese artists and sets out to trace how the traditional art form has evolved. The show, starting on Friday, is part of the museum's Hong Kong Art: Open Dialogue exhibition series 2008-09, which gives independent curators the chance to explore art from a different perspective, making use of its collection.
'The new ink art movement originated in Hong Kong and underwent various transformations,' says Tang Hoi-chiu, chief curator of the museum. 'We're opening up new possibilities, so that everything can be permitted and all [media] can be mixed. The challenge of this traditional medium is to showcase Chinese ink art, past and present.'
Perhaps the most intriguing, even controversial, part of the show is a section entitled Is It Ink Art? showing works that may not be deemed ink art at all. The featured works by artists such as Man Fung-yi, Lui Chun-kwong, Wong Chung-yu, Ming Fay and Cai Guoqiang range from organic installations to acrylic on canvas and digital works.
Cai's Glass-crashing Birds 1: Project for the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2006) and Drawing for Fetus Movement II: Project for Extraterrestrials No9 (1992) are from his signature series of works featuring gunpowder on paper - an explosion of fine powder seemingly dancing across a white surface.
New York-based Cai has another claim to fame, as co-director of visual and special effects of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics.