The Missionary of Modern Ink Painting

Since 2010, modern ink painting has implicitly become a worthy rival to oil painting in Chinese contemporary art. Highly acclaimed by international art institutions, collectors, and auction houses, the genre and its rise must be credited to Liu Kuo-sung’s tireless effort in hosting exhibitions and academic seminars across mainland China in the last thirty years. Since then, countless Chinese artists have acknowledged being inspired by Liu’s theories and innovations. In recognition of Liu’s accomplishments and contributions to Chinese art and art education in China, in 2011 China’s Ministry of Culture bestowed Liu with the Chinese Art and Literature Life-time Achievement Award.

In recent years, Liu Kuo-sung has assembled the Tension of the White Line painting group and also Liu Kuo-sung Teacher & Student Exhibition in numerous private and public art museums in Taiwan and China. Together, these artist who share the same faith in modern ink painting, wield their own artistic styles to bring forward brand new possibilities in ink and wash. And yet, this is only the beginning to the rise of the fascinating genre. Liu Kuo-sung’s dream of leading modern ink painting in becoming the renowned mainstream of Chinese art has finally been realized.