Dates 2017.08.27 (Sun.)
Guided Tour 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. | Panel discussion 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Venue Tina Keng Gallery
Host Ava Pao-shia Hsueh
Panelists Hsiao Chong-Ray, Xia Kejun, and Yuan Hui-Li
Contemporary Ink Forms and the Restructuring of Aesthetics: Yuan Hui-Li’s Revolution of Fiery Ink
How does one reshape the ink forms and artistic language in order to reflect modern times in their constant state of flux?
Revolving around the bedrock beliefs “Down with the brush!” and “Make painting unconventional!” contemporary ink has undergone an unprecedented revolution in its form, escaping the confines of thousand-year-old ink painting tools and techniques. Upon scrutiny, contemporary ink — with its freehandedness in achieving likeness within unlikeness and its effervescence in ink expression — still follows the doctrines of classical painting theories from the Song and Yuan dynasties and the aesthetics they espoused. In other words, there is still ample room for development in the aesthetic theories of contemporary ink. Yuan Hui-Li’s solo exhibition Moist and Burnt: As Ink Breathes embodies the artist’s innovative thought in contemporary ink practice. Informed by global warming and environmental change, the artist’s “Fiery Ink” is an attempt to expand the context of contemporary ink aesthetics through the physical transformation of the medium.
The Tina Keng Gallery is pleased to present “Moist and Burnt: As Ink Breathes, Panel Discussion,” which takes place on August 27. Hosted by Professor Ava Pao-shia Hsueh, famed scholar in the Taiwanese contemporary art circle, with participating panelists Hsiao Chong-Ray and Xia Kejun, both renowned scholars in the field of contemporary ink, the discussion aims to examine how Yuan Hui-Li reinterprets the essence of ink through “Fiery Ink,” and the underlying nature of the medium in contemporary theories.
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About the panelists
Hsiao Chong-Ray
Taiwanese art historian, art critic, and curator. He was the first Director General of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Tainan City Government. Currently he teaches at the history department of the National Cheng Kung University. A prolific author with numerous books, as well as essays published in periodicals and magazines, he has been dedicated to research in Taiwanese art history and education through lectures and exhibitions over the years.
Ava Pao-shia Hsueh
A contemporary artist, Ava Pao-shia Hsueh obtained her doctor of arts degree from the New York University. She was the Director of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. She now serves as an adjunct professor in the Doctoral Program in Art Creation and Theory in the Tainan National University of the Arts. Hsueh is known for her artistic language of abstraction. Her work portrays a hybrid reality through abstraction of biomorphic and geometric nature. She has exhibited internationally, including in Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, U.S. France, and Italy.
Xia Kejun
Philosopher, art critic, and curator. He received his doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Freiburg in Germany. A prolific author, he also holds a teaching position at the School of Literary Studies, Renmin University of China. His curatorial philosophy centers on “inframince art” and “Chinese line,” based on which he has curated numerous exhibitions both at home and abroad.
Yuan Hui-Li
A contemporary artist, Yuan Hui-Li is also known as Yuan Shu. She received her doctoral degree in art creation and theory from the Tainan National University of the Arts in 2016. Her practice is characterized by her critical thinking in the exploration of traditional Chinese painting history and context. Notable exhibitions include Reading the Landscape: Stories from Artists, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2016); Reshaping Tradition, China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China (2015); Plural Landscape: Yuan Hui-Li Solo Exhibition, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan (2014); and Element．Rhythm: Yuan Hui-Li Solo Exhibition, Han House Museum, Hangzhou, China (2010).
