Faithfully, or habitually, generations of Chinese ink painters have been following the path of their predecessors in depicting scenes and life in the countryside - most often from days long gone.

Now, at the end of the 20th century, a group of Chinese artists, together with some foreign counterparts, is challenging this long-obeyed tradition.

They attempt to reflect and rethink, through their works of art, the life and people in contemporary Chinese cities, amid the vibrant urbanization that has gripped the country since the late 1970s.

A number of new artistic visions related in some way to the growth of China's urban, rather than rural, landscape will soon be on display at the 2nd Shenzhen International Biennale of Ink Painting.

Organized around the theme “ink painting and city life,” the exhibition will open on December15 and run through December 29 at the Guan Shanyue Art Museum in Shenzhen, China's first special economic zone, bordering Hong Kong. Coinciding with the exhibition will be a symposium on new possibilities for the development of Chinese ink painting in a modern age.

The event is sponsored by the Shenzhen municipal government and organized by the Shenzhen Art Academy as well as the museum.

According to Dong Xiaoming, executive director of the organizing committee, the grand exhibition will include more than 300 paintings by 146 artists from more than 10 countries, including China, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Singapore.

Participating artists range from veterans, such as Wu Guanzhong and Zhou Shaohua, to well-established younger painters, like Liu Dawei and Wu Shanming, to emerging experimental painters like Huang Yihan and Li Xiaoxuan. Foreign artists will include Yolaine Escande from France and Frank Schult from Germany.

“This year’s Biennale is a major attempt to expand the domain of ink painting, eventually helping the ancient art survive and develop in the context of contemporary civilization,” said Dong.

Dong, who is also a participating painter and deputy director of the Shenzhen Culture Bureau, said this month is turning out to be the city’s “art season.” The 3rd Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, an annual event organized by the He Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen, and some other major exhibitions of Chinese art will also take place this month.

With its first show in 1998, the Shenzhen International Biennale of Ink Painting has already become a landmark art event in the city, attracting artists, scholars and visitors from home and abroad.

(China Daily 12/14/2000）