Chinese ink paintings exhibition opens in London

An exhibition of ink paintings by Chinese contemporary artists opened Wednesday at the Henry Moore Gallery in London.

"The paintings are different in style and subject," said Wang Junshan, an official of China Central Research Institute of Culture and History.

"We hope this exhibition could give visitors an overall picture of Chinese contemporary ink paintings, and enhance cultural exchanges between China and Britain."

Naren Barfield, head of the Royal College of Art, hailed the exhibition of 105 works from 45 artists as a fantastic event, which "fully lives up to its aim of both promoting ink painting and Chinese culture, and of sharing a great treasure with the world."

Zhang Hongxing, a senior curator of Chinese collections at Victoria and Albert Museum, said that to bring modern elements into traditional ink paintings is a huge challenge for Chinese artists.

"In the past, ink paintings were not created for exhibition. Now they are framed like oil paintings and hung for visitors," he said. "So the painter must grab the audience with his work. In these paintings, we could see clearly the bold innovation and exploration they had made."

He noted that a painter used shades of orange in addition to the traditional black and white in landscape painting so as to create the light effect of dawn.