Like many other Chinese artists who have returned to China to seek their artistic roots after living abroad for decades, painter Ma Hui has recently returned from the Netherlands to communicate with domestic art lovers via her ink paintings.

Opening at the Times Art Museum in Beijing earlier this month, Ma's solo exhibition Red on Black - Between Two Worlds reveals 40 of the artist's ink works, in which she explores the connection that exists between Western abstract art and traditional Chinese ink painting through the heavy use of reds and blacks.

Easily leading viewers to think of suprematism master Kasimier Malevich's geometric expressions of red and black, Ma's work opens new frontiers for the innovation of traditional ink painting.

"For me, ink painting represents the essence of Chinese culture, a bridge that links one's body and soul, and Eastern and Western art," Ma told the Global Times.

A fresh take for visitors familiar with either ink painting or abstract art, Ma's works can be categorized as belonging to the "new ink paintings" which have been on the rise in recent years as part of explorations into innovating traditional Chinese art.

The Red on Black - Between Two Worlds exhibition will usher in a series of ink painting exhibitions at the Times Art Museum, a major art space for ink works in China since the national-level project The Discourse of Chinese Ink Painting in a Global Setting Series kicked off at the museum in December of 2015.

Global Times