THE CHINESE WORLD OF INK
until 6 November 2022
Michael Goedhuis Gallery
4 Cromwell Place
London
SW7 2JE
Michael Goedhuis Gallery presents ‘THE CHINESE WORLD OF INK,’ a group exhibition featuring a collection of Chinese contemporary ink paintings by the leading artists working in this category. Chinese contemporary ink painting has been described as the most idealistic and intellectually daring of any art being produced in contemporary culture in China today. Also included are French and English artists who have been attracted to and influenced by this central element within Chinese culture.
Chinese ink artists are profoundly relevant to contemporary Chinese society, but until recently have been largely neglected by curators and critics alike. They represent the link between China’s great past and the galloping pace towards her future. Their work incorporates a deep understanding of classical Chinese culture, which they believe to be essential in their quest to create a new pictorial language that expresses the fundamentals of today’s world.
Featured in the exhibition are several spectacular drawings by Tim Yip, who was the first Chinese Oscar winner for Best Art Direction and the first to win a BAFTA for Best Costume Design – both awards for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (dir. Ang Lee, 2000). However, Yip has a multi-faceted artistic practice that spans all disciplines, from drawing, sculpture and film to stage and writing. His unique art blurs the boundaries between media, as in his recent stage adaptation of Eileen Chang’s novella Love In A Fallen City, which premiered at Shanghai Grand Theatre in 2021, and his first feature film as Director, Love Infinity, which was releases in partnership with MUBI in March 2022.
In this exhibition, Yip presents his connection and engagement with the traditional Chinese medium of ink drawing, while exploring his unique concept of ‘Spiritual DNA.’ In this theory, there is a primordial level above matter. It is not measured by the world but instead is born from the gathering of vitality. When the qi 氣 (pneuma, spirit) is exhausted, it becomes matter, and it descends into time and space. Originating from the present, it is in the unborn, not limited by time and space. Since there is neither form nor matter at this level, it is between the born and the unborn, between being and nothingness.
“We have long believed that the adventurous experiments of this generation of ink artists leading to their development of a new and revolutionary pictorial language, would have an impact on artists in the West. And this exhibition at Cromwell Place has given us an opportunity to exhibit French and British artists who have proved just that.” – Michael Goedhuis
‘THE CHINESE WORLD OF INK’ until 6 November 2022 at Michael Goedhuis Gallery
©2022 Michael Goedhuis
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