Heart and mind

The late ink artist Li Huasheng had once wished for his artworks to be exhibited alongside the works of Inoue Yuichi, a Japanese artist whose experimental approach to art greatly inspired him. Painting the Heart-Mind, an exhibition now on at the Ink Studio in Beijing, fulfills Li’s wish. The exhibition, which runs until Aug 1, juxtaposes representative paintings by Li and Yuichi to show how Chinese and Japanese artists have influenced one another’s ink art throughout the centuries. Ink Studio collaborated with the Li Huasheng Art Foundation and the Shibunkaku gallery in Japan to showcase how artists in the two countries pushed forward the frontier of style in a modern context, characterized with confrontations between East and West, past and present, and figurative and abstract approaches. Yuichi is known for developing a singular form of characters in his calligraphy, astonishing viewers with an explosion of energy and unification of movement and speed under his brush. Inspired by the minimalist and experimental spirit in Yuichi’s works, Li explored an abstract style to produce grids of horizontal and vertical lines. Both artists presented a state of meditation and contemplation in their artworks.

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