This October, the exhibition “Zero Point” opens in Shanghai, presenting the newest works created by contemporary ink artist He Jun during his 2024–2025 residency. As one of the few practitioners in contemporary ink who combine a distinctly individual aesthetic with a global perspective, He Jun further expands the visual system he has developed over the years, positioning ink painting within a more open and contemporary international context.
“Zero Point” signifies both a return to origin and a conscious resetting of one’s internal and external coordinates.
Through restrained brushwork, finely controlled washes, and expansive areas of deliberate blankness, He Jun constructs a space that hovers between reality and psychological contemplation. The figures in these works are detached from concrete narratives: they are no longer tied to specific identities but instead embody universal states of being—gazing, pausing, hesitating, awakening. This quiet yet forceful presence reflects the emotional conditions experienced by individuals in today’s complex social structures.
During his residency, He Jun deepened his exploration of ink as a material, focusing particularly on his distinctive technique of blending tea with ink.
By mixing tea into the ink, he creates tones with greater transparency and warmth—somewhere between watercolor and traditional ink. As the mixture settles onto the paper, tea and ink merge naturally, forming gentle transitions and unique brownish hues that make figures seem to slowly surface from the composition.
This warm, breathing visual quality expands the expressive possibilities of classical ink and has become one of the most recognizable features of He Jun’s contemporary ink practice.
He Jun often remarks that a painting does not need excessive explanation—“those who understand will naturally understand.”
To him, the relationship between art and its viewer is one of long companionship. A work can accompany an individual, a family, and even several generations. As one’s emotional state shifts, the same painting can reveal remarkably different qualities: calmness might draw out its quiet warmth, while moments of inner turbulence may turn it into a mirror, a reminder, or a source of unspoken strength.
This capacity to evoke multiple readings across different moments and emotions is the core motivation behind his practice.
He hopes that viewers, encountering his works at various stages of life, will continuously discover new layers of feeling and meaning.
“Zero Point” presents not only the latest developments in He Jun’s artistic journey but also traces his sustained advancement within contemporary ink. The subtle tension, psychological depth, and cross-cultural sensibility found in these works open a distinctive path between traditional ink and global contemporary art. This exhibition marks an important turning point in the artist’s ongoing exploration, granting ink painting renewed significance and possibility in the present day.
