The “blank canvas” is both a temptation and a danger. Whether it is monochrome abstract painting or the extreme conceptualism of the readymade, Western contemporary art is confronting the crisis of excess theatre and casualness that followed the rise of minimalism. A return to the limitations of art, a reopening of the plane and the finding of new connections between the materiality of technique and the elementality of nature is perhaps the path to future possibilities in art.

This art exhibition, entitled Blank to Blank, continues with the ideas explored in the previous Infra-Mince exhibition, continuing the transformation of the remnant philosophy of “leaving blankness” in Chinese culture and incorporating the free and open space of the West, using the “absorptivity” and “emptiness” of ink to form a new “remnant white” and thus engage in a reverse-reconstruction of a “non-dimensional plane” and produce a new formal language comprised of “shades of white.”

If Chinese contemporary art is to give a gift that can be universally shared, that gift must meet three conditions: it must be connected to the spirit of traditional Chinese ink painting; it must reconstruct the literati aesthetic; and it must open up a new plane and visual language through a reconstruction of non-dimensionality.

The artists featured in this exhibition at Soka Art Beijing use the rich contrasts or “dialogues” between white and white, white and black, qi and white, jade and white, remnants and white, nothingness and white, emptiness and white, the infra and white, light and white and betweenness and white to present the enchantment of reverse reconstruction in unique ways while also attempting to provide new forms for Chinese art.

Participating Artists (in order by age):
Qiu Shihua、Liang Quan、Shen Qin、Chen QI、 Liu Guofu、 Xiang Yang, Chen Guangwu

Courtesy of Soka Art Center and Contemporary Space