In their quest for new forms, some artists have even gone so far as to do away with ink. Using a lit cigarette, Chinese artist Wang Tiande (王天德) burns characters onto thin rice paper, which he then curtains over abstract paintings.
Others work without brushes. In Zhang Yu’s (張羽) Fingerprint series, the artist dipped his finger in spring water lightly saturated with colored ink and randomly pressed it on rice paper, creating dynamic visual tension.
The juxtaposition of Chinese experimental ventures and Taiwanese modernist undertakings illustrates the flexibility of ink painting, which is able to depict the multiplicity of contemporary society while remaining somewhat grounded in tradition. The exhibit’s subtext, of course, makes it perfectly clear that Chinese innovative ink painters lagged 20 years behind their Taiwanese counterparts because of China’s tumultuous
recent history.
Although the exhibition’s catalogue fully explains the remarkable aesthetic transitions taking place in both Taiwan and China, the exhibit fails to help those without a guide understand why the featured ink painters were cutting edge. Viewers raised on a bevy of modern and contemporary art will probably view the works and question the level of innovation present in the paintings. Had the museum provided visitors with a brief explanation of the ink painting tradition — even a traditional painting or two would suffice to elucidate the contrast — even those unversed in the art form would be better equipped to evaluate the truly revolutionary nature of the pieces on display.
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