100 Layers of Ink, No.2

1994

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

For a decade between 1989 and 1999, Yang worked on the series 100 Layers of Ink, to which this work (one from a set of three) belongs. It is the result of focused repetition: Yang applied ink to the same pieces of paper, day after day, until the paper was completely saturated. As the paper reaches saturation, the ink takes on a shimmery, luminescent quality, and the paper itself shifts from a two-dimensional surface to a three-dimensional object, merging figure and ground, coming close to sculpture. Though these are the same materials used by literati to make traditional paintings, Yang has reinvented them here, removing entirely the artist’s gesture as an index of meaning.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: 100 Layers of Ink, No.2
Artist: Yang Jiechang (Chinese, born 1956)
Date: 1994
Culture: China
Medium: Ink and acrylic on paper laid down on canvas
Dimensions: 67 × 73 1/4 in. (170.2 × 186.1 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Lent by a private collection, Hong Kong
Curatorial Department: Asian Art