We speak to Fong, who was a pioneering member of the avant-garde Taiwanese art unit Fifth Moon Group, and a founding member of the Four Seas Artists Association. The latter collective was a leading artistic revolution of the time that took bold steps towards abstraction, an endeavour that had vital impact on the development of contemporary Chinese ink art.
Traditional Chinese painting has long alluded to abstraction. The work of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou delicately danced on the boundaries of abstract art, but never made the leap across. At the time, the prerequisite to a meaningful break from century old tradition was a developing liberal milieu and cultural climate. For us, the environment was ripe with liberty, allowing for a break from the scope of Chinese art.
Chinese contemporary ink art has increased in popularity, not only in China but also in the global art world. It has slowly but definitively found appreciation on the international art stage. I believe that one day, through mutual respect, the world will find a common understanding of art.
The consistent and prevailing challenge is how to seek innovation and self-improvement, which is also my source of gratification from the process.
Art is purely subjective. I hope that when people view art, they will liberate themselves from personal prejudices and limitations. For the younger generations, I hope they seek beauty and innovations in all their forms, I hope they fracture and rupture from the conventional canon.
I envision Chinese contemporary ink to have a positive future; we now rely on future artists to exert and express the spirit of our tradition.
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