Artist reinvents Chinese landscape painting

Chinese landscape and nature painting may have reached its height during the Song Dynasty. But a new solo exhibition called "Chongqing Vigor" by Deng Jianqiang, which opened at the National Art Museum of China on Saturday, shows that it's still possible to attain new heights with this traditional artform.

 Julian Waghann caught up with Mr. Deng before the show to talk about his innovative use of ink and color.

Bold colors jump out at you. These are not your traditional "shanshui", or Chinese landscape paintings. Because pure primary colors clash with the diffusive ink are rarely used in "shanshui" paintings. But Deng Jianqiang has found just the solution to combining ink with color to create counterpoint and dialogue in his paintings.

Patches of impressionistic freehand brushstroke with intricately depicted birds or flowers add another dimension, and give a modern feel to these traditional landscapes.

Born and raised in China's southwest city of Chongqing, Mr. Deng is no stranger to these landscapes, and has been greatly influenced by his father, also a "shanshui" painter.

The exhibition is an exploration of harmony through contradiction. By fusing ink with color, traditional with modern, oriental with western, Deng is not only creating a new visual language for today's world, but a new "shanshui" world for the people of today.