Krannert Museum Opens Taiwanese Ink Exhibition
Ink Shower brings together 12 contemporary Taiwanese artists who reimagine the centuries-old ink painting tradition.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Fine Art
Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has opened Ink Shower: Contemporary Taiwanese Artists Reimagine Tradition, featuring work by 12 artists. The exhibition was co-produced with the University of Illinois Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, curator Kai-Ching Hsiao, and the InART Space gallery in Taiwan.
Why it matters
The show places contemporary Taiwanese art in conversation with an ink tradition that spans more than 1,000 years, showing how artists are extending it through photography, sculpture, video, sound, installation, and digital work. It also marks the museum's acquisition of three works by Wu Chi-Tsung and Yao Jui-Chung.
The exhibition includes artists using traditional ink alongside photography, sculpture, video, sound, and digital media, with only one artist working entirely in ink. Chen Chun-Hao recreates classical shan shui paintings using tens of thousands of stainless steel nails, while Chien Yu-Jen builds Taroko mountain images from cement, sand, and minerals.
The players
Krannert Art Museum
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's art museum, which organized the exhibition and acquired the three works by Wu and Yao.
Kai-Ching Hsiao
The curator of the exhibition, who holds a doctorate from Tainan National University of the Arts.
The details
Artist Wu Chi-Tsung made Cyano-Collage 276 by coating rice paper in cyanotype emulsion, crumpling it, and placing it in the sun for a day. Yao Jui-Chung reworks a traditional landscape folding screen by inserting dinosaurs alongside Tu Di Gong in Land is Wealth: Money God, a four-panel work measuring 77 x 120 inches.
Timeline
1966: The New Chinese Landscape exhibition featuring Chen Chi-kwan opened, a precursor to the current show's themes.
Nov. 4: Yao Jui-Chung gives a Center for Advanced Study MillerComm lecture.
Nov. 5: Exhibition opening reception.
Nov. 6: Artists panel discussion.
Feb. 27: Exhibition closes.
Legal Context
The 1966 New Chinese Landscape exhibition, featuring Chen Chi-kwan, opened 60 years before this show and similarly reconsidered the landscape tradition. Ink Shower carries that reinterpretation forward by pairing ink painting with newer media across 12 artists.
Champaign-area visitors can see the exhibition at Krannert Art Museum on the University of Illinois campus through Feb. 27. The opening reception on Nov. 5 and the artists panel on Nov. 6 offer direct access to the artists and curator.
The takeaway
Ink Shower shows that a 1,000-year-old tradition can still be extended through photography, metal nails, cement, and digital media. Visitors interested in the work can use the November opening events to hear the artists directly.
What happens next
The exhibition closes Feb. 27, with the artists panel discussion on Nov. 6 and the opening reception on Nov. 5 preceding it.
Further reading
Explore more Fine Art coverage for Champaign readers.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Artdaily.
