Rhee Kibong’s “Wet Psyche—No Wind” is one of 78 works in the museum’s Fondation Ink Collection. (photo courtesy of Rhee Kibong)

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will present a new exhibit, “Ink Dreams: Selections from the Fondation INK Collection,” from Sept. 19 through Dec. 12.

“Ink Dreams” explores how the spirit of ink translates to other mediums, global artists and contemporary times. Comprising 78 works of photography, sculpture, video and painting, the exhibition proposes a new view of ink art for the contemporary era, one that incorporates qualities from the ink painting tradition and new adaptations of traditional subject matter.

The exhibition features the work of 53 artists from Asia, Europe and North America, including Chen Haiyan, Shirazeh Houshiary, Lin Tianmiao, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Xu Bing, and Yang Jiechang.

Organized in three thematic sections – apparitions, meditations and dreamscapes – “Ink Dreams” references trends within East Asian ink art history to create links between past and present ink practice.

Apparitions includes works that use translucent layering and negative space or absence as important compositional elements. Meditations relates to both religious and non-religious meditation, and the use of repeated gestures and prolonged contemplation in art making. Dreamscapes features contemporary renderings of the imaginary landscape, a frequent subject of historical East Asian ink painting that aims to depict the artist’s own inner landscape as opposed to a landscape found in nature.

Ink Dreams is the first major presentation of work from the Fondation INK Collection, a 400-piece collection of contemporary ink art that was promised to LACMA in 2018. Since the gift was announced, LACMA has borrowed key works from the Fondation INK Collection for special exhibitions.

“We are thrilled to present this inaugural exhibition of work showcasing the Fondation INK Collection,” curator Susanna Ferrell said. “Reflecting the larger collection, Ink Dreams offers a unique and novel understanding of contemporary ink art as a genre defined by soft qualities and common themes as opposed to one defined solely by the materials of ink and paper.”

For information, visit lacma.org.