Experimental Ink Art and Its Characteristics from the Perspective of the “Object Turn” (1980–2000)

The Western industrialization process and the expansion of technological rationality in the 20th century triggered a re-examination of the ontology of “objects” in the theoretical community. The linguistic turn and object-oriented philosophy propelled the art field to initiate the “object turn”, centered on the reconstruction of materiality. Mixed-media art deconstructed traditional media forms through readymades and installation language. Against this backdrop, Chinese experimental ink art intervened in the global cultural pattern along a localization path from the 1980s to the 1990s. By deconstructing the centrism of brush and ink and engaging in the processual practice of repetitive writing, it dissolved the traditional symbolic meanings and reconstructed the visual grammar of “material presence.” This paper, using literature research and case analysis as the main methods, incorporates experimental ink art into the theoretical spectrum of the “object turn.” It reveals the reconstruction of cultural genes through material experiments and proposes the practice path of “medium as concept” (ink as a method), offering theoretical insights and references for the continuous exploration of the materiality of contemporary ink art.