}

Out of Ink

Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art

April 11 - July 28, 2019

Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art explored the essential ideals of the ink painting tradition as manifest in the work of 13 contemporary artists at work in China. Their art does not necessarily rely upon conventional materials – ink, paper, or brush – but encapsulates the cultural spirit of ink. The experimental forms of expression that underscores their practice are a prism through which to understand how artists are rethinking the conventions of ink to forge new ties to the present cultural context, and enrich this weighty tradition in the process.

The exhibition curated by Karen Smith echoed content familiarly seen in ink painting, such as landscapes or natural forms, as single or juxtaposed elements from the natural world, as well as the role of calligraphy. These revealed the spirit of ink, a core value that is its most enduring esoteric quality, yet, none of the artists presented here claim to be ink artists. Instead they work with, appropriate, manipulate, or deconstruct, the spiritual and aesthetic ethos of “ink” as cultural metaphor, philosophical system, and as understanding of relationship between man and the physical world of form and space. In their respective ways, each artist makes a contribution to the future possibilities of a medium that has been the dynamic pulse of the nation’s culture through China’s long civilization.

Participating artists are Xu Bing, Chen Haiyan, Jian-Jun Zhang, Xing Danwen, Luo Yongjin, Sun Yanchu, Qiu Anxiong, Li Ming, Xu Hongming, Chen Guangwu, Liang Wei, Zhou Fan, and Tang Bohua.

Exhibition Catalogue

Out of Ink

Out of Ink

Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art explored the essential ideals of the ink painting tradition as manifest in the work of 13 contemporary artists at work in China. Their art does not necessarily rely upon conventional materials – ink, paper, or brush – but encapsulates the cultural spirit of ink. The experimental forms of expression that underscores their practice are a prism through which to understand how artists are rethinking the conventions of ink to forge new ties to the present cultural context, and enrich this weighty tradition in the process.

"Out of Ink" <br>  Karen Smith, Tang Bohua, Jian-Jun Zhang, Zhou Fan

"Out of Ink"
Karen Smith, Tang Bohua, Jian-Jun Zhang, Zhou Fan

As part of the exhibition Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art, Pera Museum presents a talk by the curator Karen Smith in conversation with the artists Tang Bohua, Jian-Jun Zhang and Zhou Fan.

 

Beth McKillop <br>"Ink in China"

Beth McKillop
"Ink in China"

As part of the exhibition Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art, Pera Museum presents a talk by the academic and curator Beth McKillop, who contributed to the exhibition’s catalogue with an essay. 

Xu Bing<br>Background Story: Summer Mountains

Xu Bing
Background Story: Summer Mountains

As part of the exhibition “Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art”, Pera Museum presents a talk by the artist Xu Bing, who participates in the exhibition with his installation Background Story: Summer Mountains.

Movement of the Line / Line of the Movement: Web <br>Taldans

Movement of the Line / Line of the Movement: Web
Taldans

Pera Museum presents Movement of the Line / Line of the Movement, a workshop-performance program that will be held at the exhibition floor as part of the Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art exhibit. 

Video

In the Mood for Chinese Cinema

In the Mood for Chinese Cinema provides a composite, contemporary perspective on movies made in and about China in recent years.


Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel

Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel

In 1998 Ben Jakober and Yannick Vu collaborated on an obvious remake of Marcel Duchamp’s Roue de Bicyclette, his first “readymade” object. Duchamp combined a bicycle wheel, a fork and a stool to create a machine which served no purpose, subverting accepted norms of art. 

The Search for Form

The Search for Form

A series of small and rather similar nudes Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu and Eren Eyüboğlu produced in the early 1930s almost resemble a ‘visual conversation’ that focus on a pictorial search. It is also possible to find the visual reflections of this earlier search in the synthesis Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu reached with his stylistic abstractions in the 1950s.

Cindy Sherman Look At Me!

Cindy Sherman Look At Me!

The exhibition Look at Me! Portraits and Other Fictions from the ”la Caixa” Contemporary Art Collection examines portraiture, one of the oldest artistic genres, through a significant number of works of our times. Through the exhibition we will be sharing about the artists and sections in Look At Me!.