Using an old medium to create new effects

When accessing ink artist Zheng Chongbin's website, you see an animated front page on which ink is poured over a sheet of white paper, achieving the three-dimensional effect of Chinese ink-and-wash painting.

For four decades, the Chinese-American artist, 55, who divides his time between his native Shanghai and California, has used ink as his main object to create art. But he was not satisfied with limiting his vision to ink merely as a painting material.

His current solo exhibition, Zheng Chongbin: Structures, at a Sotheby's space in Hong Kong shows how he has gone beyond classical Chinese ink art, pushing its boundaries.