At Art Basel | Hong Kong 2016, INK studio will present a selection of representative works from the current practice of Li Huasheng (b. 1944 in Yibin, Sichuan). His renowned grid paintings form the core of the presentation, including his iconic monumental ensemble 0669 (four panels, each measuring 362 x 143 cm), previously exhibited in “Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China” (2013) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Inside the booth, three of his new two-layer grids—each consisting of two translucent layers mounted together—are hung in the style of a Chan (Zen) meditation room for intimate and contemplative engagement.
For Li Huasheng, the discipline of the grids and the freedom of landscapes and calligraphy are mutually illuminating, and he continues to pursue the latter, albeit in an abstract and minimalist fashion. In the main space, INK studio will feature a selection of his abstract landscapes, including his signature “one-stroke paintings” and previously-unseen experimental works that may be called “misted landscapes.” In the latter he eschews the brush altogether to paint not grids but their shadows: dots and patches of ink in a dense mesh, appearing from a distance as fields of shifting tones. Here, Li Huasheng explores the delicate interplay between intention and accidents, image and imagination.
Li Huasheng | INK studio at Art Basel Hong Kong
Booth 3D31
March 24 - 26, 2016
Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, 1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, China
http://www.artbasel.com/hong-kong
