A brush with history | China Daily

Wang Dongling, Wandering Beyond detail, 2016, Ink on xuan paper, 565 x 300 cm

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There are 43 items inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage lists that not only bear witness to the past glories of Chinese civilization, but also continue to shine today. China Daily looks at the protection and inheritance of some of these cultural legacies. In this installment, we trace the aesthetic and cultural lines that connect the first Chinese scholars with the brush-wielding enthusiasts and practitioners today.

Installation view of Wang Dongling: Writing Chaos, INKstudio, Beijing, 2016

Installation view of Wei Ligang: Songs of the Phoenix Mirror, INKstudio, Beijing, 2016

Modern twist

The evolution of calligraphy continues even now.

For example, the timeless beauty of shiguwen continued through to the 20th century among artists and scholars who kept copying the script.

Wu Changshuo, a leading reformer of the ink tradition, is famed for integrating the calligraphic brushwork of shiguwen into painting.

Today, some endeavors are done in an avant-garde gesture and shown at art galleries like INKstudio which has spaces in Beijing and New York.

The decade-old gallery introduces to both domestic and global audiences experimental approaches to add new perspectives to ink art and calligraphy, as a rich, complex art language and also as the distinctive worldview of China and East Asia, according to Craig Yee, who co-founded INKstudio alongside two Stanford University alumni.

Artists who have been shown at the gallery include the likes of Wang Dongling and Wei Ligang. Their works have aroused discussions and debates, which from Yee's point of view, are "very important to expand the possibilities" and degrees of freedom in the realm of calligraphy and ink art, the same way as their predecessors did.

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About INKstudio

INKstudio is an art gallery based in Beijing and New York. Its mission is to present Chinese experimental ink as a distinctive contribution to contemporary transnational art-making in a closely-curated exhibition program supported by in-depth critical analysis, scholarly exchange, bilingual publishing, and multimedia production. INKstudio's program encompasses Postwar and contemporary artists from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Korea and Japan including Bingyi, Chang Yahon, Chen Haiyan, Cheng Yen-ping, Dai Guangyu, He Yunchang, Hung Fai, Huang Chih-yang, Inoue Yu-ichi, Jennifer Wen Ma, Jeong Gwang-hee, Kang Chunhui, Kim Jong-ku, Lee In, Lao Tongli, Li Jin, Li Huasheng, Lim Hyun-lak, Lim Ok-sang, Liu Dan, Peng Kanglong, Ethan Su Huang-sheng, Tao Aimin, Tseng Chien-ying, Wai Pong-yu, Wang Dongling, Wang Tiande, Wei Ligang, Xu Bing, Yang Jiechang and Zheng Chongbin and exhibits works of diverse media, including painting, calligraphy, sculpture, installation, performance, photography, and video. Since its inception in 2012, INKstudio has regularly appeared at art fairs such as the Armory Show (New York), Art Basel Hong Kong, and West Bund Art & Design (Shanghai) and placed works into major public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Freer-Sackler Galleries, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and M+ Museum, Hong Kong.