Ink art represents a cultural value, is an attitude to and an understanding of life, nature, and the world. Since the beginning of the last century, along with the dramatic changes in society, ink art has also been in the process of rethinking, reexamining, and renovation. Especially in the past few decades, facing the strong challenge of contemporary artistic concepts, ink artists use their unique artistic language to express their concerns in life, and to pose questions to both tradition and modernity. Their works, regardless of conceptual approach or visual discourse have developed in the context of contemporary life, and, as with other forms of Chinese art today, represent the contemporaneity of society and culture. Now, ink art has already become an important and inseparable part of contemporary Chinese art. We can see that all artists confidently display their visual experience, describe their personal perceptions, express their concerns in life, explore their spiritual aspirations, and raise questions about both tradition and modernity in a much broader contemporary cultural discourse.

The 2019 Asia Week San Francisco Bay Area Symposium – In Ink: Current Trends of Ink Art convenes museum directors, curators, scholars, and art critics for an informative and interactive discussion on ink art. Meanwhile, the eponymous exhibition In Ink: Current Trends of Ink Art, opening in conjunction with Asia Week SFBA at NanHai Art will bring more than thirty ink artists’ work to the Bay Area, providing an opportunity for us to directly engage with and reach a deeper understanding of this important component of contemporary Chinese art.

Agenda

1:30 – 2:00 Registration

2:00 – 2:20 Opening Remarks

Edward Gui, Director, NanHai Art; Organizer, Asia Week San Francisco Bay Area Ellanor Notides, Deputy Chairman Americas, Christie’s
Jay Xu, Director, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

2:20 – 4: 50 Speakers

Abby Chen, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Katherine Don, Head of Arts & Cultural Development, Asia Society Hong Kong

Kuiyi Shen, Professor of Art History, Theory, & Criticism, Vice Chair & Director of Ph.D. Program, Department of Visual Arts; University of California San Diego
*Guest curator of the exhibition In Ink: Current Trends of Ink Art; panel chair

Richard Vine, Managing Editor of Art in America
Chun Chen Wang, Deputy Director of CAFA Art Museum, China

4:50 – 5:30 Discussion and Q&A

Moderated by Julia Andrews, Distinguished University Professor, Department of History of Art, The Ohio State University

5:30 – 6:30 Opening Reception