Power of the pen: contemporary Chinese ink paintings
Contemporary ink paintings are stimulating debate about how to modernise the art form, writes Vanessa Yung
You might call Chinese contemporary ink the new black. The genre was already making waves in Europe last summer when three large exhibitions of Chinese contemporary ink paintings were held at the British Museum and the Saatchi Gallery in London, and the Guimet Museum in Paris.
Interest quickly caught on in the art market, and auction house Christie's held its first private sales of the genre earlier this year. This was followed by an exhibition of contemporary ink art in New York, staged by rival Sotheby's.
Now mainland and Hong Kong ink artists are in the spotlight in an exhibition of their works at Sotheby's Hong Kong Gallery at One Pacific Place.
"New Ink: An Exhibition of Ink Art by Post-1970 Artists From the Yiqingzhai Collection", which will end on June 28, features local names such as Wong Chung-yu and Joey Leung Ka-yin alongside Hao Liang and Peng Wei from the mainland. Also on show is a selling exhibition, "The Spirit of Ink: 12 Hong Kong Artists".
Angelika Li On-ki, the gallery director of Sotheby's Hong Kong, curated both shows. She says the New Ink exhibition is different to previous ink art shows because it focuses specifically on works by 16 post-1970 artists that have yet to be fully explored.