Since 2000, Chinese society has become deeply embedded in the processes of globalization across economic, political, cultural, and technological domains. Inevitably, the contemporary expression of ink art has had to respond to this complex historical context. Whether in the retrospective gaze of the New Literati Painting, the shift in Experimental Ink from a focus on media experimentation to cultural positioning, or the efforts of New Media Ink and New Ink Art to draw upon the broader cultural resources of Chinese tradition, all these trajectories point to a foundational insight embedded within the logic of contemporaneity: the writing of contemporary Chinese ink art constitutes an essential part of the historiography of Chinese contemporary art.
As both a physical medium and a cultural-spiritual signifier connected to traditional Chinese culture, “ink” (shuimo) has, since 1978, encountered a plurality of civilizational resources—ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign. In this expanded field of artistic freedom, it has gradually moved beyond the instrumental and didactic functions once assigned to Chinese ink painting. Over the past four decades, ink has come to embody a contemporary logic structured by three key discursive frameworks: the discourse of brush and ink (bimo lun), the discourse of medium (meijie lun), and the discourse of concept (guannian lun).
“A History of Ink Art In China From 1978 to 2020” traces the overarching historical trajectory of contemporary Chinese ink painting since 1978. It situates the practices and achievements of individual artists within specific contextual frameworks, offering analytical insights into the evolution of artistic trends, the creative journeys of representative artists, and their works. Through this, the book systematically examines the transformation, development, and defining characteristics of contemporary ink painting over the past four decades.