The exhibition brings together the recent work of 14 leading contemporary artists to provide us with a rich insight into a culture in transition.

The artists have used diverse techniques and mediums to express their response to the cultural changes that are taking place in their world.

Exhibition Curator, Dr Sophie McIntyre has cleverly selected works for this exhibition that draw inspiration from the traditional practices of Chinese ink painting.

‘Contemporary ink art has emerged as one of the most significant artistic trends in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and, over the past decade, it has attracted increasing attention from the media and the international art community’.

In the West it is widely associated with ancient Chinese calligraphic scrolls and paintings depicting sublime landscapes in wash using ink and brush on paper or silk.

This exhibition challenges these preconceptions by offering new and different ways of thinking about ink art as a contemporary form of visual expression that is not defined or restricted by style, subject or media.

For example, the artists have used a wide range of non-traditional mediums including Coca-Cola, tea, biro, ink jet prints, video and animation.

He Xiangyu is the youngest artist represented in this exhibition and he is rapidly establishing a reputation as one of China’s most innovative contemporary artists.

While his art practise involves mediums of historical and traditional significance, he also chooses to bring in materials that are not traditional in any sense.

He Xiangyu is best known for his ‘Coca-Cola Project’.

This was completed over two years, from 2009 – 2011. He worked with Chinese factory labourers to boil down 127 metric tonnes of Coca-Cola.

The soft drink was reduced to crystalline lumps and these were then ground into a dark fluid. With a colour and consistency similar to ink, the artist applied this Coca-Cola to a series of paintings.

This series of paintings, collectively titled ‘Antique Circular Fan’ can be interpreted in multiple ways – the impact of Western colonisation and as a comment on the effects of globalisation, consumerism and the mass media on society and cultural traditions.                   

Further essays by the exhibition curator and other academics can be read in the catalogue, which is available from the Bendigo Art Gallery shop for $30.

Bendigo Art Gallery is the only Victorian venue for this exhibition.

On display until February 7 next year, the exhibition will then tour onto UNSW Galleries in Sydney and then the Museum of Brisbane. 

Bendigo Art Gallery is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am – 5pm. Entry by donation.