5 Contemporary Chinese Artists You Should Know

Get to know the work of five artists that are reviving thousand-year-old traditions

China is the birthplace of ink–one of the oldest known drawing tools. While artists worldwide have adopted painting with soot, it was first used by one of the oldest empires.

Given the historic importance and diverse nature of Chinese art, we have selected five contemporary artists who continue to develop its thousand-year-old traditions and give them a modern twist.

Liu Dan

Born in 1953 in Nanjing, Liu Dan is considered an important representative of contemporary Chinese culture. From a very young age, he studied Confucian classics, poetry, and calligraphy with his grandfather. As an adult, he continued to study traditional painting at Jiangsu Academy of Chinese painting. In 1981, he moved to the United States, where he stayed for 25 years. He now lives in Beijing.

His work, predominantly landscapes, fuses a mix of influences: traditional Chinese techniques along with those of the masters of European art.

Wang Dongling

Recognized as one of the greatest calligraphers working today, the multi-faceted work of Wang Dongling incorporates calligraphy, abstraction, and performance. Born in Nantong in 1945, he was an apprentice of the great calligrapher Lin Sanzhi. He also lived in the United States, where he taught calligraphy and began exploring pure abstraction. He is currently director of the Modern Calligraphy Study Center at the China National Academy of Arts, his alma mater.

His works, which often have large dimensions and are painted directly onto the floor, use strong and robust lines. Even a quick glance is enough to appreciate the artist’s drive and determination. Wang Dongling has declared:

“Calligraphy has been my calling, my life, and my aspiration”.

Yang Jiechang

Born in Foshan in 1956, Yang Jiechang has been painting since the age of three. He was educated at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and has also studied Taoism. In 1989, he was invited to participate in the exhibition, “Les Magiciens de la Terre” (Magicians of the World) at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, where he presented his most famous series: 100 Layers of Ink. Since then, he has been living and working in the French capital.

Each work from his “100 Layers of Ink” series was carried out by adding successive ink layers to rice paper (a very common material in Chinese classic art), creating a three-dimensional marble effect. Over the years, however, his work has gone down a more figurative path, becoming similar in style to Gongbi painting.

Wang Tiande

The life of Wang Tiande, who was born in Shanghai in 1960, changed course by accident. Having trained as a calligrapher, the artist set out to pursue a career as a writer. However, one day, while working, ash dropped from the end of his cigarette and fell onto the piece of rice paper in front of him. Seeing the marvelous effect it created, he had a revelation. From then on, he began to burn his work with incense and cigarettes.

Celebrated all over the world for their originality, the works of Wang Tiande are usually composed of a first layer that is painted with calligraphy and landscapes, and then a second layer that is burnt, deforming and modifies the layer.

Xu Bing

Known for his installations and engravings, Xu Bing is considered to be one of the most important artists in China. A native of Chongqing, they grew up and studied in Beijing and attended the Fine Arts Academy. When he arrived in the USA in 1991, feeling disorientated by the language, he invented a writing system that they branded Square Word Calligraphy.

One of Xu Bing’s most impressive works is the installation, “Book from the Sky.” It consists of four volumes of a book filled with 4000 meaningless characters, imitating the style of the fine editions of the Ming and Song dynasties. As he himself says:

“If you can find a way to face your past, your tradition, perhaps you can make it better.”

English version by @eloiseedgington.

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