Ink-and-Wash as an Important Cultural Resource and Identity
A Dialogue Concerning the Exhibition “About Ink-and-Wash”
Lu Hong  Lu Huan

Lu Huan：In recent years, you have staged a series of exhibitions, which are related to ink-and-wash. Some of them are more like on-shelf exhibition of modern ink-and-wash, while some obviously exceed the experimental category of on-shelf ink-and-wash, and take the exhibition “Reshuffle” organized by you and Mr. Sun Zhenhua in 2001 for example, you have invited with intent some artists engaged in installation art, video art and sculpture. “Reshuffle” not only exerts great impact upon the ink-and-wash circle, but also gives impetus to the contemporary art circle. Mr. Chen Xiaoxin, a critic, regards this exhibition as an important and long-expected practice of “Version Art” or “Art of Chinese culture”. Comparatively speaking, your “About Ink-and-wash” exhibition pays more attention to the dialogues among famous Chinese contemporary oil painters and ink-and-wash painters within the category of on-shelf ink-and-wash. Well then, what is the original intention of staging this “Reshuffle” exhibition? What is the relationship between “Reshuffle” and “About Ink-and-wash”? How about the differences between them?

Lu Hong：Just as known to all that the contemporary arts of the whole world develop dramatically, while Chinese contemporary art is also thriving vigorously. In recent years, both Dr. Sun and I have been assorting the art history, and have written some books in the mean time, such as his Sculpture Space and my 20 years of modern ink-and-wash, etc. We both found out a problem in the process, that is, Chinese contemporary art has borrowed more western cultural resources, including concepts, subjects and artistic approaches, which give rise to a kind of rupture between Chinese contemporary art and traditional culture. We were so desperate to solve that problem that we staged “Reshuffle” exhibition together, in the hope of shuffling the western cards on the one hand, and shuffling the traditional cards on the other. The subheading of the exhibition is “In the name of Ink-and-wash”, which contains two aims: first, we hope the artists who don’t use ink-and-wash as their vehicle of artistic expression such as those engaged in installation art, video art and sculpture will absorb some elements from traditional Ink-and-wash and other traditional resources; the second is to promote conversion and continuation of Ink-and-wash as a type of painting, thus it can pursue a new possibility in the contemporary era. For the time being, the first aim has been better realized than the second. Therefore, I always wanted to invite some contemporary non-ink-and-wash artists to do some ink-and-wash paintings. Lately, I found some contemporary oil painters such as Shang Yang, Fang Lijun and Ceng Fanzhi have produced some excellent works, using ink and wash as their media and resource. As a matter of fact, they are free from the fetters of the traditional ink-and-wash, so they can do a better job in exploring a new possibility of ink-and-wash. What is more, they also probe into the question about how to further tap and utilize ink-and-wash as a traditional material and national resource in the process, and that is definitely beneficial to their future creation of works. So when Mr. Luo Zhongli, president of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and the Tank Loft asked me to present a blue print for the exhibition, I proposed this “About Ink-and-wash”.

Lu Huan:  Not long ago, I met Mr. Jia Fangzhou who said the greatest value about this exhibition lay in the new understanding and analysis of ink-and-wash from the periphery, and the new definition formulated in the same time. In the light of that, is ink-and-wash in this exhibition a material or a method?

Lu Hong:  Actually, the issue of the material is closely related with identity. That is because Chinese ink-and-wash has a history of over one thousand years, and it has already acquired a symbolic implication, thus people will associate China at the mere mention of ink-and-wash in any place. This identity is the most valuable resource with which we participate in international conversations on the backdrop of Globalization. However, I think the method of using the materials is more important. If you still use water and ink in the traditional manner, you will lack the contemporary elements even though you have a Chinese identity. And it is meaningful only when the ink-and-wash material is used in the contemporary way. Therefore, how to respect the inner characteristics of ink-and-wash and explore a possible way of innovation at the same time are the artistic problems of the time which call for a solution.
Lu Huan: However, people will find it hard to avoid the topic of Nationalism at the mere mention of the issue of identity. How to bring forward the “Ink-and-wash” issue afresh will become a new direction which may influence the development of Chinese contemporary art.

Lu Hong: What you said makes good sense. Taiwan scholar Mrs. Long Yingtai had emphasized in one of her articles that “It is national only when it belongs to the world.” It is widely divergent with our long-emphasized viewpoint: “It belongs to the world only when it is national.” Their prerequisites happen to be opposite. I am in favor of Mrs. Long’s view because she put forward her view under the present situation. It not only positively supplemented the traditional view but also pointed out a right direction for the development of national culture in the context of globalization.

Then I thought of Chinese ink-and-wash art. In the past, the public opinion unilaterally emphasized that “It belongs to the world only when it is national.” Thus some ultranationalists took a stereotyped attitude towards the creation of ink-and-wash paintings. Though they thought it can draw a clear demarcation line between the ink and wash painting and the contemporary art of the west, yet since their painting skills, standards, aesthetic tastes and artistic conception were almost from the traditions, thus they failed to create a new ink-and-wash art which embodied the Zeitgeist and they could not even carry out normal and equal dialogues with the western contemporary art. Suffice it to say, they are different arts in different times: the latter is the art with the spirit of new cultural value, while the former is just a repetition of the cultural value in the past. Practices have well proved the fact that the tradition is created, not preserved. Without positive ties with the current colure, no tradition is meaningful, no matter how long-standing and great it is. It is from this point that I am in favor of the view that it is necessary for some artists to draw on the traditional elements of ink-and-wash and engage in the exploration of the current ink-and-wash transformation in order to better utilize ink-and-wash as an important cultural resource, or rather, to give prominence to the national identity and the differences with other nations and to carry out international dialogues. And in such a process, the context of globalization is definitely an important prerequisite that we should pay attention to. As a matter of fact, today nobody can exceed this context, let alone going back to the ancient age.

Lu Huan: Does it really happen that Globalization unifies our artistic creations by the western standard?

Lu Hong:  Definitely not. The so-called Globalization is by no means unifying our artistic creations by western standard; instead it expects artists to fully consider the basic principles which should be kept in the global cultural exchanges when produce their artworks. Of course, it is very hard to give a clear picture to all the principles in such a short conversation. But to my understanding, there are two points that merit our attention: first, to pay full  attention to the contemporary dimensions embodied in the artworks in order to express new cultural and aesthetic messages through the works of Chinese contemporary art and new ink-and-wash paintings；Second, all the cultures in the world should be treated with magnanimity so that those good elements can be drawn. Here, any “West-centered” or “East-centered” notion is totally wrong. Besides, in the global context, there is a viewpoint which says nationalism refers to difference. In terms of space, it contains some Chinese characteristics; in terms of time, it emphasizes more on the current expressions, it means that it is neither a repetition of the past nor simple imitation of the west, but a new contemporary art of Chinese style.

Lu Huan:  There is such a viewpoint that if a nation always emphasizes on the national culture of its own and resists the integration of global cultures, it shows its weakness.

Lu Hong: For that, Xu Ben, a US-based scholar once made some excellent remarks. In his understanding, the expression of language is not simply a matter of form. Because in the context of Globalization, it is totally impossible to carry out equal dialogues with the western world if a Chinese artist refuses to speak as Chinese people do, which is actually not preserving the continuity, uniqueness and self-respect principle of its own culture. What is more, it also means we will forsake our own identity in exchange for that of “others”. To me, the pursuit of the Chinese way of expression with the prerequisite of stressing the contemporary dimensions is different with what those extremists do.
It should be clearly pointed out that people usually separate the form and the content for convenience of narration, but I still think form and content are consistent. For example, if Cezanne, the great French painter, wants to express his understanding upon the international order, it is impossible for him to do so by using Auguste’s artistic language, Jean-Auguste-Dominique, another famous French painter. In his world, language is concept, and vice versa; the two are consistent.

Lu Huan: In recent years, you mentioned in many of your works that “the change of orientation in linguistics” was being replaced by “the change of orientation of image”. The artworks chosen for this exhibition are all easel paintings and a range of artists that have long been engaged in oil paintings have been invited to take part in the exploration of ink-and wash. Is this fact connected, to some extent, with the exploration of new images in creating ink-and-wash paintings?

Lu Hong: Absolutely yes. In view of the diversity of the production of modern ink-and-wash paintings, there should be a range of people who are engaged in seeking the new ways of the development of ink-and-wash from the angle of the relationship between ink-and-wash and new images, viz. from the angle of the collision with modern life. The social and cultural transformation in the modern age requires artists to reconsider the starting point of artworks; however, the new starting point is bound to change the basic pattern of the expressions of in-and-wash paintings. For ink-and-wash painters, the constant development of the modern culture is a process, in which new artistic images and symbols keep engendering and expanding. If we make efforts to bring the stances of individual intellectuals into the production of ink-and-wash paintings and carefully study the psychological and living status of the modern people, we are very likely to find a range of cultural images and symbols pertinent to the reality while we are experiencing the change of life and new cultural information.

Lu Huan: From another angle, people might think that some Chinese contemporary artists don’t understand Chinese traditions in real sense, and then how do they embody the Chinese spirit?

Lu Hong: There is a prejudicial opinion which simply concludes that Chinese contemporary artists are imitating the west without a good knowledge of traditional culture. It is true that there are such people in China but they are in the minority. As a matter of fact, most contemporary artists imitated on the early phase of Chinese contemporary art, but afterwards they all began to seek consciously for the relationship between the traditional culture and their works. In this respect, Xu Bing, Gu Wenda and Cai Guoqiang all did a better job than those ultra-conventionalists.

Lu Huan: How should ink-and-wash art go global, and how to feed back lessons from the outside world to China?

Lu Hong: Not based on the conception of traditional ink-and-wash art; this exhibition is in the hope of solving a problem, which is how to find a connection between the expression of Chinese contemporary art and the traditional culture. Actually there are many ways to find such connection and ink-and-wash is only one of them. And the reason why the exhibition chose ink-and-wash art is that it has a great impact. Personally, I interpret ink-and-wash art as an identity and a very important cultural resource. Therefore, this exhibition neither takes it as a mission to let ink-and-wash go international, nor makes it a pursuit of prolonging the life of ink-and-art.

Lu Huan: Since every participant of the exhibition holds different views upon ink-and-wash and the contributions they will make vary, what stance should we take in terms of choosing artists to attend the exhibition?

Lu Hong: The ink-and-wash artists we have chosen are those in the leading position of experimental ink-and-wash circle. They are striving to perfect ink-and-wash by drawing on inspiration from contemporary art and meanwhile making their artistic expression. While as to those non-ink-and-wash painters, some of them had done ink-and-wash paintings before, such as Fang Lijun, Shang Yang, Ceng Fanzhi. And as for the others, we have no idea whether they have done that or not, but we have noticed from their works that they are trying to find resources from traditional freehand culture, and transferring those resources to their works of oil paintings. I greatly appreciate their acceptation of the invitation. It is my sincere wish that this exhibition will be a collision, which might give birth to unexpected sparkles in the process.

Lu Huan: There was once a viewpoint like this: softness and instability of the ink-and-wash materials make it hard for this traditional art to survive in the context of the Chinese contemporary art and it can, at best, only develop toward the direction of abstract ink-and-wash. And what is your comment on this view?

Lu Hong: Beyond doubt, people who hold this view simply make of the issue with the western standards. For contemporary art, what counts are not the materials but the expression of concepts. Besides, the characteristics of the media of the western contemporary art can not completely replace that of the Chinese contemporary art. We shall not linger on the discussion upon whether the western contemporary art’s media have the characteristics of hardness or not-----actually there are some soft materials in the western contemporary art. Even if the western contemporary art does have the characteristics of hardness, how will that make ink-and-wash art useless? Since ink-and-wash art has a long history of over one thousand years and becomes a symbol of our national identity, the new ink-and-wash art has every reason to secure a decent place in the context of the Chinese contemporary art; otherwise, it will be a huge tragedy in the history of Chinese culture. Not long ago, some German artists staged an exhibition in our gallery and one of them produced his works by using ink-and-wash materials. In a related symposium he mentioned that ink-and-wash materials have the characteristics of “a good coordination between heart and hand”. And it is wrong for some Chinese artists to completely forsake the ink-and-wash materials or pay no attention to deriving elements from the tradition. A Japanese scholar named Dagangxin once said: “The greatest charm of art lies in the transformation from the past to the present.” He also claimed that Li Bai and Du Fu, the great ancient poets actually represent the present.  By this token, what is important for us now is to discuss the transformation of our culture, to be exact, how to present our art in a way which is related to both the tradition and the present time. Of course, the international rules should also be well observed.

Lu Huan: When it comes to the international rules, we have returned to the beginning of the discussion but it is more in-depth. The international rules is a long-standing issue concerning the Chinese contemporary art. What is your opinion upon the current game rules in the international community?

Lu Hong: I think the first step we should take is adaptation since China does not have a strong voice in the international community at present. The second step is to strengthen ourselves; when our status has been raised in the future on this basis, the issue of revising the rules can be brought forward. Therefore, the third step is reform! They are just like what we do in our entry into WTO.

Conversation in Hua Qiao Building, Bejing on May.22ed 2007
Completed in Shenzhen Art Gallery on July.22ed 2007

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