It is like walking into a vanguard gallery at the Fourth International Ink Painting Biennial of Shenzhen, which opened Monday.

The traditional ink painting images like mountains, water, birds and flowers are seldom seen. Instead, scenes from modern life and abstract patterns dominate.

At first sight, you will find it difficult to figure out these artistic signals. On second thought, they throw something unexpected.

Designers and painters from home and abroad used traditional mediums and tools to depict modern urban themes. The Xuan paper, the brushes, and the ink present a whole new look when artists put their magical hands to work.

The Design Ink Painting and Ink Painting Space series are most eye-catching with novel ideas perfectly transforming into modern decorative and design art.

As a more practical art, design has already been steeping into every part of our daily life. People are no longer satisfied with the practicability of design and begin to focus more on the aesthetic enjoyment.

This year's biennial fully shows how the modern elements are sweeping the world of traditional ink painting.

The light and shadow effect is even employed in American artist Johanna Grawunder's work of Chinese bamboos.

With different colored rays and angles, viewers can see a three-dimensional picture, which looks like a decorative wall of the interior design.

American designer Alexander Gelman even projected the ink painting design onto a trendy skateboard.

Widely used in commercial advertisement, posters provide a huge space for artistic creativity to run wild. The abstract patterns and artistic characters are portrayed with traditional Chinese ink.

The so-called "Design Space" series is more like a melting pot of different ink painting voices.

Fashion design pieces, pottery items and even videos are all among the accent, as their creators do not consider themselves the ink painters in a real sense.

What they really care about is that a trace of ink painting is left in their works.

The organizer also wants to cash in on this series to explore more spheres in the development of modern ink paintings.

The biennial closes Jan. 10, 2005.

Editor: Catherine