Artwork Title Streamside Homestead《溪山人家》
Artist Peng Xinfeng (彭新峰), founding member of the Jianghan Eight Fellows (江汉八友), a collective renowned for redefining ink painting through cross-cultural experimentation.
Date 2025
Medium Ink wash on premium cardboard
Dimensions San Chi Dou Fang (50cm * 54cm)
Description Peng Xinfeng’s Streamside Homestead is a meditation on coexistence—human dwellings nestled within the eternal rhythms of nature. The work unfolds in layered planes: in the foreground, a cluster of homes with russet-tiled roofs anchors the scene, their angular forms contrasting with the organic flow of gnarled pines rendered in assertive ink strokes. A serpentine footbridge arcs over a mist-laced stream, its waters evoked through minimalist feibai (flying white) brushwork. Beyond, mountains dissolve into atmospheric gradations of ink and celadon wash, their peaks dissolving into the void. Peng employs the three-distance method (高远, 深远, 平远) to create spatial depth, yet subverts tradition by flattening perspective in select areas, introducing geometric abstraction reminiscent of Cubist fragmentation.
Material and Technique The choice of premium cardboard—a nod to industrial modernity—challenges ink painting’s orthodox reliance on rice paper. Peng leverages the board’s fibrous texture to amplify tactile contrasts: dry-brush cun (texture strokes) for craggy cliffs, wet-on-dry gradients for mist, and delicate gongbi (meticulous brushwork) for architectural details. Flecks of malachite green and ochre mineral pigments (danchai) enliven rooftops and foliage, their subtlety harmonizing with the monochromatic palette. The substrate’s absorbency is strategically manipulated—some areas resist ink to create ethereal “negative clouds,” while others soak deeply to evoke shadowed grottoes.
Cultural Dialogue This work embodies the Jianghan Eight Fellows’ manifesto: “To drink from the Yangtze’s currents while speaking to the world.” Here, literati ideals of shan shui (山水) as spiritual refuge collide with contemporary ecological urgency. The homesteads, though idyllic, bear witness to 21st-century anxieties—their compact forms suggest sustainable minimalism, while the synthetic cardboard medium critiques deforestation. Peng bridges eras: the bridge motif echoes Song dynasty handscrolls, yet its cantilevered structure recalls Zaha Hadid’s parametric designs. This duality positions the work within global discourses on sustainable architecture and the Anthropocene.
Contextualization Emerging from Wuhan’s vibrant art scene, the Jianghan Eight Fellows (active since 2014) have pioneered a “Neo-Chu” aesthetic—reviving the mystical vitality of ancient Chu culture while engaging with transnational modernism. Peng’s practice aligns with peers like Li Ji-Jun, whose Longmen Landscape series reimagines traditional scroll formats through photomontage. Yet Streamside Homestead distinguishes itself through material innovation; where Li employs digital glitches, Peng harnesses cardboard’s industrial rawness to mirror the tension between urbanization and ecological preservation. This work also dialogues with international contemporaries like Marlene Dumas, who similarly interrogates medium specificity in liquid modernity.
Exhibition Note Streamside Homestead exemplifies the “Third Space” in contemporary ink art—a realm where tradition and avant-garde, ecology and industry, coexist in provocative harmony.
Display recommendations: Illuminate under low-angle LED to accentuate cardboard’s tooth, with augmented reality annotations revealing hidden layers (e.g., infrared imaging of underdrawings).