Ink Art

In Japan, Ink is associated with ink schools and ink exhibitions which are supported by a unique aesthetic value. The background of it is that ink was excluded from art in the process of modernization in Japan. It is called the "Japanese Calligraphy is not an 'Art'" movement. However, this disregard for ink in Japan is because of the eye which was controlled by an idea of Western art. On the other hand, in China artists have achieved to modernize ink art through the 21st century. The aim of this exhibition is to introduce ink art as a new genre of contemporary art.

The ink culture is based on Buddhism, Confucianism and the philosophy of gardening, and it can be considered as a symbol of Asian culture and ideas. It is not a culture of nationalistic ideology of mainland China but rather a global culture complexly related with histories in neighboring countries, so-called a visual common language in Asia. For example, Tsang Tsou Choi, a Hong Kong calligraphy graffiti artist (1921-2007) is one of the artists who revived the letter as a visual culture. He was called "King of Kowloon" and has written his family trees in about 55,000 outdoor sights.

Furthermore, in "Nontransparent Monument" by Cai Guo-Qiang (1957- ), the ink rubbing is used to make copies of inscriptions of textual stone surfaces. As the copied rubbing roll is more convenient to hand-carry than the original stone inscription, it played a role of preserving and spreading the letters to the public of Eastern-Asia network as Korea, Vietnam and Japan. This culture of letters was supported by "Literati", Chinese thinkers who have existed from ancient era. Literati loved the Four Treasures of the Study such as brush, ink, paper and ink stone and small objects around their desks in their studies. Especially they loved Scholar's rocks as Taihu stone and Lombi stone which was called 'three dimensional ink painting'. "Artificial Rock No 96" by Zhan Wang (1962- ) is challenging us to re-think about the boundary between artificial and nature, or original and imitation, in Asian stone culture.