But turning guns into ink has given him a sense of purpose. “It feels like a remedial process for society, in my mind, and has this wonderful, magical, transmutational (aspect),” he said.

For centuries, the phrase “ink art” conjured monochromatic ink paintings by Chinese scholar-artists, whether their subjects were figures, flowering trees or invented landscapes in which crisp ...

A small blue ghost clambers over the exposed shoulders of the legendary folk deity Zhong Kui in the opening artwork of “Qi Baishi: Inspiration in Ink,” now at the Asian Art Museum here and ...