Born in Jilin in 1978, contemporary artist, graduated from the Department of Environment and Art of Jilin Forestry College in 2000, now lives in Beijing.
His works use the two most basic elements of traditional Chinese ink painting - paper and ink - but he expresses his understanding of the spirit of Chinese ink painting in a way that is completely different from ink painting. Various so-called new ink paintings that are popular nowadays deliberately deconstruct the old literati painting traditions in a secular and playful or urbane way, subverting the poetry and mood of traditional paintings with visual images full of fleshy symbols and exaggerated shapes. This is the reckless deconstruction of the classics by the postmodern. On the back of the flat narrative advocated by the postmodern, it embodies the disregard of historical depth and the deviation from tradition.
Chen Lingang's works, in trying to rebuild some kind of connection between art and history, and in expressing a new imagination of tradition with his own unique way of presentation, no matter whether they can be recognized by the academia and the market or not, they at least provide a new possibility for us to re-understand the creative transformation of traditional art elements. In front of his works, we can recall that the change of art forms is also a history of spring and fall.