Diversity in Contemporary Ink Painting: A Multifaceted Aesthetic Journey

Diversity in Aesthetic Psychology

Since the Reform and Opening Up policy, advanced science and technology from the West, various art trends, and schools of art have emerged in China. The diversity of Western art has greatly shocked the Chinese people, prompting an exploration of diversified artistic content. With the transformation of cultural context, contemporary ink painting has presented a diverse aesthetic pursuit. Many ink painters have completely abandoned the binary thinking mode of East-West opposition, discarded their impetuous mentality, and viewed ink painting with a more open perspective. They are well aware that innovation in ink painting requires not only learning from Western art but also shifting the focus to the personal feelings of the creative subject. It is under this change that contemporary ink painting has presented a great situation of diversified development.

Aesthetic Types

The diverse contemporary ink painting can be roughly divided into three aesthetic types: conservative, innovative, and open-minded.

The conservative aesthetic view inherits traditional techniques and concepts, emphasizing the brush and ink taste of calligraphy and painting and the expression of traditional culture. 'Cheng Huai Guan Dao' and 'Tian Ren He Yi' are its spiritual pursuits, and 'Shen, Miao, Neng, Yi' are its aesthetic standards. The conservative aesthetic view always adheres to the expression of Chinese traditional culture, upholds the one-sided orthodoxy of 'brush and ink centerism,' expresses emotions through scenery, and ideas through objects, and does not care about real-life. It displays a negative and evasive attitude towards 'modernity.'

The innovative aesthetic view improves traditional ink painting by borrowing from Western realism and some modern painting language on the basis of the aesthetic standards of traditional ink painting. It emphasizes innovation in traditional ink painting on the basis of selectively inheriting traditional aesthetic standards. For example, 'expressive ink painting' emphasizes the integration of inner emotional and outer formal expression, while 'new realistic ink painting' emphasizes the combination of its internal lively life essence and external perfect elegance. On the basis of traditional aesthetic standards, Western modern aesthetic contents such as tension and formal beauty are added.

The open-minded aesthetic view integrates tradition and contemporary, borrowing from Western contemporary art forms and ideas, such as abstract expressionism, deconstructionism, conceptual art, and performance art, while emphasizing the uniqueness of ink painting. For example, experimental ink painting involves ink installation art, new media ink art, and performance art ink experiments. It is more inclusive and open-minded in aesthetics, demonstrating diversity. While opposing tradition, it emphasizes originality, pays more attention to real-life, and highlights contemporaneity. It is different from the elitism of traditional ink painting and advocates for populist art.