With any kind of art form, the universal value of its spiritual dimension is bound to change with the times and develop. Shanghai ink, after more than a century of development, has already established its own cultural orientation. In this era of transition, it will not lose its self-identity, but instead will, in the process of continuation and restructuring, reflect the inherent continuation and transformations that demark the inevitable trajectory of Shanghai ink painting’s logical development, and eventually establish its position in the landscape of today's multiculturalism. The saying that "pen and ink should reflect the era," in a sense, is to make pen and ink the media for the painter's own thinking and emotion, along with the need for new objects and new manifestations of that work that has a contemporary and modern aesthetic spirit , turning traditional classical forms into modern form. 

Modern forms of Shanghai Ink has to firmly grasp the main spirit of Chinese culture, but also reflect the cultural contexts of contemporary society, reflecting the visual concept of the contemporary significance and aesthetic value, and by creating a basis in tradition, traditional becomes the endless stream of the Yangtze river. Shanghai ink painting is in an era of transformations.  Artists must carry out the construction and reorganization of the traditional pen and ink, which informs the context of today's Shanghai ink, in a form with a wide selection of possibilities, letting the artist’s imagination run free. Lu Fusheng said: "Fixating on a single stance or a fixed perspective, it is difficult to appreciate the rich palette of Shanghai painting." And this exhibition is precisely based on the position of a diverse aesthetic and artistic perspective, showing today's Shanghai Ink’s graceful charms and deep refinement

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The five artists in this exhibition are important representatives of contemporary Shanghai ink painting, and viewers may get a comprehensive context of the contemporary creations of Shanghai ink art. Their original maverick spirit and distinctive creative practices prove that Shanghai painting has become an autonomous expression of the spirit of the era of cultural and aesthetic delight as well as an important art genre. By exhibiting the works, we can feel how Shanghai contemporary ink painting is synchronized with the times, with conversions and spiritual renewal. The exhibition also shows the power of the spirit of contemporary Shanghai ink painter personality, as well as the value and significance of the works in the field of contemporary art produced. 

Zhang Guiming is a dominant figure on the Shanghai ink painting scene. He is not only unique in the form of ink-painting language and personal style, but is also highly innovative in composition and structure. Using contemporary aesthetic and spiritual values ​​as a fulcrum, his work becomes quite different from the traditional, so as to produce a novel and unfamiliar new visual aesthetic, which to a large extent efforts to expand the innovation and performance of contemporary Chinese ink language. This is Zhang Guiming’s active life reflection, so as to create a picture of endless vitality and atmosphere.

 

Lu Fu Sheng’s ink characters and landscapes have an other-worldly quality, just like the artist himself.  His work is again quite unique in the Shanghai ink painting scene.  His work earned high drift depiction of ancient springs, and the flat plane of bake painted dyed colors, combined with modernist layout. All of his compositions are peculiar and unexpected. His character are often other-worldly; his landscapes, clear profiles. His work has already reached an ideal state of self-sustenance, and the free habitat of the soul’s wanderings.

 

MA Xiaojuan’s ink paintings use her personalized character modeling and character portrayal to emphasize the inherent performance of the human and spiritual freedom to convey. Her lines are pungent and free, colors elegant and lyrical, impressionistic and vivid enough to titillate the viewer and resonate with the depths of their subconscious. In the "Dream of Red Mansions", "Golden Lotus" and other series of works, she is particularly capable to combine narrative rationality and specific feelings in a given scenario, and is gifted in giving women their petite and tender characters.  Although the scenarios painted by her are daily happenings, they have a free and naturally refined nature, and easily captivates us by their liveliness.

 

HE Xi's most distinctive artistic features, is his combination of traditional art form with modern concepts, in order to highlight contemporary concepts of freedom and imagination, so that contemporary cultural ideas between the traditional and the modern shuttle freely. He opened up traditional language, and extended his sharp tentacles into the vast space of independent spirit. His visual narrative and ideas are conveyed in the carefully constructed picture, and he focuses on elegance and feelings, uses colorful imagery, rich details, and symbolic metaphors to reveal his perception of life and humanity and speculative, and leave much for the viewers to contemplate.

Mao Donghua prefers to use modern form and subject matter, to fix and replace the traditional ink drawings and content. Her extensive use of straight lines and light ink, so that the screen has an enhanced sense of form, gives a diluted elegance. She distances herself from modern city glitz, and provides a space of quietness and elegance, thus enriching the expression of ink painting. She seemed to be undergoing a quiet revolution, so that ink and contemporary reality can inter-relate, showing a more contemporary aesthetic character and cultural patterns in the ink and spiritual connotations. Her skills and courage are truly commendable for a young female artist. 

Shanghai, in its a hundred and some years of history, has ushered in the wind from all directions, and has become the smelting furnace in shaping cultural elites.  It continues to absorb the energy of art from around the country, but also plays a powerful role in radiating back. Amongst these players, the Shanghai Ink painters have been particularly innovative. Every Generation produces talents. In emphasizing the spirit of contemporary Shanghai Ink expression, we have to inherit, but also to trade-off, but most importantly, to innovate. Innovation comes from both inheriting and trading off, integration and re-integration. This innovation is not only in painting language, but also in cultural patterns. This exhibition provides full and vivid demonstration. 

It is worth mentioning that this exhibition makes strong evidence for Mr. Cheng Shifa's "Shanghai school is no school". The so-called "no school” refers to the lack of a unifying painting language and style, but the overall presentation should represent a Shanghai or Jiangnan spirit. If we speak of the painters’ birthplace or origins, then be it north or south, east or west, all rivers converge together under the "Shanghai" banner. This also shows that "Shanghai" could be an unrestrained ocean, a huge melting pot. This is indeed what the Shanghai ink art world needs! 

                               Summer 2014 

Shanghai