“What is valuable lies not in a work, but in the spiritual locus of one’s whole life. It lies not in what one has done in his life, but in his ability to see vaguely what others will realize in the comparatively remote future.” These words of Joan Miró’s are a great inspiration to me. Perhaps it is appropriate to apply them to the development of experimental ink and wash.

　　Experimental ink and wash, which rose in the 1990s, is the last important link in the transformation to modernity of Chinese art of ink and wash.

　　Experimental ink and wash, which began with the consideration of the course of art history, has gradually penetrated into the reality and the cultural problems of the society we are living in.

　　Experimental ink and wash, though originating from the root of the tradition of Chinese art and culture, tries consciously to break with the rules of brushwork and ink applying technique of literati painting in traditional ink and wash.

　　Experimental ink and wash regards ink and wash as a kind of spirit and is opposed to brush-and-ink-centralism. It tries to blaze new trails outside the system of traditional ink and wash.

　　Experimental ink and wash is a revolution in the art of Chinese ink and wash started by the explorers of contemporary art. It is a creation of contemporary art, and an irreplaceable model in contemporary Chinese art.

　　Experimental ink and wash has overstepped the distinction of the East and the West. It is a new conception and new order in contemporary Chinese art.

　　Experimental ink and wash is varied, rich and open in its styles. Its course, like that of the history of the development of art, is dynamic, changeable, and evolutive.

　　Experimental ink and wash is the result of the perception of the common resources of culture and art of the human world in the information era of the globe. It has developed in an open way in the context of Chinese culture. In this way, it has got out of ink and wash.

　　Experimental ink and wash has completed its historical mission. Its creation belongs to its era.

　　Experimental ink and wash, while getting out of ink and wash, has ended the problem of ink and wash.

　　Experimental ink and wash represents our cultural attitude and standpoint. Hence it has created the “schemata” and “trace images” of ink and wash.

　　I. The Origin of Experimental Ink and Wash

　　In the Chinese society of the 1980s, modern Western politics, culture, art, and ideas flooded in after the starting of reform and opening-up, and as a result, concussions occurred in the fields of politics, economy, culture, and art. In the field of fine arts, on the one hand, some artists were at a loss what to do with the impact of modern Western art because of being unprepared; on the other hand, enormously passionate after all the restraints imposed on them were removed, the young generation of artists absorbed boldly and rapidly the forms and ideas of modern Western art, and challenged the old norms of art which had shackled the artists for a long time. Although they had not clear ideas in doing this, their dreams were indeed exciting and heartening. As a result, the ’85 trend of thought started vigorously in China in such circumstances, stimulating artists to advance to modern art. At the same time, however, in the field of ink and wash in traditional Chinese painting, artists were at a loss what to do after the coming out of “Traditional Chinese Painting is in an Impasse”, an article by Li Xiaoshan, which made a great stir.

　　Ink and wash of traditional Chinese painting was indeed in a predicament, just as Li Xiaoshan says in his “Impasse”: “Contemporary Chinese painting is at the turning point between crisis and rebirth, between destruction and creation. The vexation, perplexity, introspection and speculation of contemporary Chinese painters reflect the characteristics of historical evolution. It is more difficult to work as a Chinese painter in our times than in any other. The dual burden of objective pressure and subjective dissatisfaction has restricted enormously their creative ability. Indeed, the challenge from the requirements of the times is a rigorous test to contemporary Chinese painters.” The phenomenon of Gu Wenda’s ink and wash sets an example of advancement to us. Unfortunately, however, he turned to another way in the late 1980s because he had not enough courage and willpower to go on or because he was not prepared enough mentally. Gu Wenda’s shift of direction increased greatly the doubt about ink and wash and about the prospects of its development.

　　In 1989, the Exhibition of Modern Chinese Art curated by Gao Minglu and others reverberated through China, arousing enormously the passion of contemporary Chinese artists, who became frenzied about art. But it depressed the artists of ink and wash undoubtedly that works of ink and wash at this exhibition were in a gloomy situation and evoked no special response in the audience. After 1990, along with the change and development of Chinese society, the social-political trend of art in modern Chinese art developed briskly and had a strong lineup. Simultaneously, after ink and wash was impacted strongly by modern Western art, cotemporary experimental ink and wash artists, caught in a two-way squeeze, felt utterly helpless. Those of noble aspirations had no other choice but to undertake their own responsibility and mission confidently, courageously, tenaciously, and consciously, to stand in the forward position of modern ink and wash, and to conduct exploration of the modernization of ink and wash with new ideas for the sake of self-salvation. On the one hand, Zhang Yu initiated and organized the series of books Trends of Modern Chinese Ink and Wash at the End of the 20th Century, which was used as a platform to gather more experimental ink and wash artists to explore the way of development of the art of ink and wash. “Getting out of tradition and entering the contemporary era” in artistic creation became our common conviction. On the other hand, ink and wash artists, together with critics, began to explore the way to construct the contemporary system of ink and wash from the angle of theorization and art criticism. In this way, contemporary experimental ink and wash artists showed their attitude and standpoint in their clear ideas and started their long march of experimental ink and wash resolutely.

　　In the 1990s, contemporary Chinese art changed enormously as the social structure of China changed. The Guangzhou Biennial and the Post-’89 New Chinese Art Exhibition curated by critics caused another upsurge in China. Especially the Post-’89 New Chinese Art Exhibition characterized by two tides, namely, “political pop art” and “cynical realism”, pushed contemporary Chinese art to the international community. It became the focal topic in contemporary Chinese art that, as artistic phenomena of culture and ideology, works belonging to these two trends soon entered the international arena by being shown at the St Paul Biennial and the Venice Biennial. However, ink and wash was still out of the field of vision of the critics and had nothing to do with the contemporary era.

　　In 1995, the phenomenon of experimental ink and wash began to gain attention. The RIM Gallery in America prepared to give Return to Homeland: Group Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Experimental Ink and Wash in 1996. The critic Huang Zhuan was invited to act as the academic director, and the participating artists included Wang Chuan, Wang Tiande, Shi Guo, Zhang Yu, Liu Zijian and others.

　　On the one hand, experimental ink and wash gained attention as the last important link in the transformation of Chinese art of ink and wash to modernity. On the other hand, however, it forged ahead with difficulty in the endless debates on “brush-and-ink doctrine” and “non-brush-and-ink doctrine”, “withering away” and “surviving”, “pessimism” and “optimism”, and the question whether the art of ink and wash possesses contemporary character.

　　II. The Cultural Standpoint of Experimental Ink and Wash

　　As an artist and the planner of experimental ink and wash, I think that the standpoint of experimental ink and wash, in a way, is that of mine. Therefore, in my understanding, the rise of experimental ink and wash in the 1990s could only start with the consideration of art history and must be closely linked with the demand of human beings for sharing visual arts. In the present day when electronic information and mass media are highly developed, the life characterized by the sharing of the common information and common cultural resources of mankind has begun. This is a practical challenge, and a challenge also presents an opportunity. Thus, what is expressed in experimental ink and wash becomes a reflex of our understanding of the world. This understanding and reflex is derived from our being faced with the East, the West, the tradition, modern times, contemporary era, culture, art, the society, etc., and our understanding is developing and changeable.

　　1996 was an important year for the development of experimental ink and wash. The Symposium on Contemporary Chinese Art of Ink and Wash planned by Zhang Yu and presided over by Pi Daojian was convened at the Huanan Normal University in Guangzhou. The art-historical significance of the development of experimental ink and wash was affirmed at the symposium. At the same time, the enthusiasm of the artists of experimental ink and wash was greatly enhanced. Experimental ink and wash, for a while, became the focus of the circle of the art of ink and wash, and the disputes on “brush-and-ink doctrine” and “non-brush-and-ink doctrine”, “withering away” and “surviving”, and the question whether the art of ink and wash possesses contemporary character became hotter from then on. From today’s point of view, there is no point in disputing on such problems. Nevertheless, the value and the significance of the whole development of experimental ink and wash were embodied in these meaningless disputes.

　　The rapid development of the world is unimaginable and surprising. Due to the specific characters of the social system of China, only ten years development of China has completed several hundred years’ course of the Western world. Therefore we find that contemporary Chinese art in the late 1990s tended to become conscious. On the one hand, the continuous adjustments of the social structure extricated the artists from their indignation against politics; on the other hand, the contemporary artists realized from their new understanding of their native culture that what is important is the establishment of their own mode of discourse. Differences exist in what is shared. The specific characters of their own culture can only be truly manifested and established in differences. What lead to such differences are the mode of language expression and cultural identification. Only if this is correctly understood can their own method of expression and a clear cultural aim can be found. This is also a problem in experimental ink and wash.

　　The development of experimental ink and wash has gained positive appraisal in the academic circles due to its art-historical significance. The fact that the experimental ink and wash artists are bold in making innovations and are determined to make explorations continuously in the fields where no one has set foot before means that their behavior need not be subject to any existing norms. This will naturally keep experimental ink and wash away from popular culture at the center and lead to its marginal position. I think that artists are duty-bound to guide the masses in participating in the cultural construction in depth and in a broader field. This is exactly a significant state, a potential possibility of advancing. This is the advancement and the development in my understanding: to proceed from the considerations of practical requirement and to think in terms of practical cultural significance and value. Only if we adopt such an attitude “ink and wash” will have some promise for the future and it will be possible to guide the public to new art.

　　The agreement of experimental ink and wash as a modern kind of discourse with the present-day cultural context in the 1990’s can be reflected from the trend of experimental ink and wash. Here the reactions to the extensive infiltration of Western artistic ideas and the ever deeper understanding of the ink and wash culture resulting from reflections on the reality of contemporary social culture are included. Exactly for this reason, experimental ink and wash is both extensive and inclusive. We may try to find out more modes of expression through omnifarious practice to suit the mentality of contemporary human beings. For example, Zhang Yu’s Divine Light, Shi Guo’s Masses, Hermaphrodites, Wang Tiande’s Chinese Costume, etc. It may be seen here that experimental ink and wash does not mean rebellion for the sake of rebellion. It is not formalist in the sense of ink and wash for the sake of ink and wash, let alone utilitarian. I think that, in the development of the art of ink and wash, the most important thing is not ink and wash itself, but the thing behind ink and wash, that is, culture. How should we look on the culture of ink and wash? How should we achieve a new understanding of it in the contemporary era? What should we assimilate from it? What is of first importance in it? In the final analysis, the most important thing is the ink and wash spirit! This spirit is peculiar to us Chinese. Contemporary works with such ink and wash spirit are what we should pursue. Therefore, ink and wash cannot be regarded simply as equal to materials, techniques and forms, or so-called brushwork and ink applying technique.

　　In addition, under the influence of modern and postmodern ideas, the growing point of experimental ink and wash lies in the merging and collision of Chinese and Western cultures. Experimental ink and wash has transcended not only the direct depiction of worldly life, but also the demarcation line between the East and the West conceptively. It will be a step forward of art-historical significance and historical value taken by experimental ink and wash in the difficult position for Chinese ink and wash as a native art to carry on effectively this Oriental cultural spirit.

　　Since experimental ink and wash has touched the existing fixed conventions, the establishment of corresponding theories of criticism is what we have been expecting.

　　Experimental ink and wash marks our attitude and cultural standpoint and implies the standard of its construction. The creation of experimental ink and wash belongs to its own era.

　　III. Visual Characteristics of Experimental Ink and Wash

　　There are two manifestations of experimental ink and wash. I. Mainly two-dimensional easel painting mode, including the pure use of materials of ink and wash, and ink and wash creations using mixed media and mixed techniques. Two-dimensional easel painting creations have two characteristics. 1. Schemata. In a way, the construction of schemata is the mark of experimental ink and wash and a brilliant contribution made by it. Representative works include Zhang Yu’s Divine Light series, Shi Guo’s Package of Masses series, Wang Tiande’s Chinese Costume series, Pan Ying’s Woven Ribbons series, etc. 2. Trace images. The creation of trace images with emphasis on the point that the process of strenuous manual labor is precisely the meaning is the mark of experimental ink and wash and a brilliant contribution made by it alike. Representative works include Zhang Yu’s Fingerprints series characterized by repeated fingerprints, Li Huasheng’s Line Grids series drawn by hand characterized by repetitive horizontal and vertical lines, Liang Quan’s Poems series using scraps of paper and by means of manual collage, Wang Tiande’s Digits series of burnt traces of Chinese characters, etc. II. The modes of creation of performance, video, and installation. Representative works include Wang Chuan’s installation Zero Point, Wang Nanming’s installation Ball of Characters, Wang Tiande’s installation Dining Table of Ink and Wash, Zhang Yu’s video and performance Fingerprints, Liu Xuguang’s video Ink Drops, etc.

　　In addition, many people understand abstract ink and wash or abstract expressive ink and wash simply as experimental ink and wash, and this leads to the misunderstanding that identifies experimental ink and wash with abstract ink and wash. In fact such identification is not correct. The consistent standpoint and attitude of experimental ink and wash in the process of its development is its being subject to no existing norms and taking merging and creation as its principle.

　　Seen from the angle of easel painting, experimental ink and wash is an innovation in terms of the visual forms and methods of schemata and trace images. These are obviously something absent in traditional ink and wash. However, it is inappropriate to make such a comparison. For, with stress laid on learning from Nature, traditional ink and wash is an expression of natural objects. Experimental ink and wash goes beyond the methods of learning from Nature and stress is entirely laid on subjective psychological experience. It is an expression from the interior. In experimental ink and wash, psychological experience and visual experience are merged and then turned into visual images. Therefore, it is vastly different from traditional ink and wash. Obviously there is no comparability between experimental ink and wash and the norms of traditional ink and wash.

　　Close examination of the culture of ink and wash shows that nowadays the mode of ink and wash of the culture of ink and wash is a large system, and a conception of ink and wash in a broad sense. The ink and wash we usually encounter falls into three kinds: 1. Traditional ink and wash. 2. Modern ink and wash abiding by the norms of traditional ink and wash. 3. Experimental ink and wash. They are three kinds of norms in this large system. We will put traditional ink and wash aside because it is generally considered as belonging to the past, to history. We will confine ourselves to modern ink and wash abiding by the norms of traditional ink and wash and experimental ink and wash within the conception of ink and wash in a broad sense. Modern ink and wash abiding by the norms of traditional ink and wash: This kind of ink and wash represents modern life by applying the rules of the traditional ink and wash combined with Western visual experience. It is the mainstream of present-day ink and wash, and its fundamental methods have some bearing on realism and expressionism. Experimental ink and wash: It is independent of any existing norms. It is another norm created on the basis of the conception of ink and wash in a broad sense. It is the result of comprehensive cultural blending. “Experimental ink and wash” and “modern ink and wash abiding by the norms of traditional ink and wash” are two lines in parallel development, both of which belong to the large system of ink and wash. Their difference is that one is relatively traditional, and self-contained in its form of ink and wash, and the other is more up to date, concentrating only on the tone and the spirit, and the form of ink and wash itself is not the most important thing. Methods may vary according to the needs of expression even to the extent that new elements may be injected so that the spirit of ink and wash may be shown while the artistic expression is internationalized. Basically speaking, one seeks novelty only rather than change, the other seeks not only novelty but also change; one uses existing methods, the other creates new ones; one lays stress on external forms, the other, on internal qualities. Seen objectively, traditional ink and wash, modern ink and wash abiding by the norms of traditional ink and wash and experimental ink and wash do not belong to the same system of rules, and criticism and research should be conducted along different lines.

　　Based on the new understanding of traditional ink and wash, experimental ink and wash has created a different mode of expression and theoretical system, improved the stereotyped mode of expression of traditional ink and wash, and manifested the extensive contemporary spirit of ink and wash of the conception of ink and wash in a broad sense.

　　The schemata and trace images created by experimental ink and wash are closely linked with the general environment of the era, and its visual experience derives from the blending of many factors. As a result, experimental ink and wash has changed our past consistent mode of thinking, making it possible to read in a wider field of vision. What deserves studying in ink and wash is not only its phenomenon but also its schemata and trace images and its mode of expression. Along with the deep-going of creation and the constant emerging of new manners in experimental ink and wash, all the past standards as well as the mode of reading are changed.

　　Objectively speaking, the specific characteristics of ink and wash are more related with the philosophy, psychology, religion, reality and belief of China, or rather, the general culture of China. What inspires the artists of experimental ink and wash in their creation of the schemata and images of ink and wash is inseparable from the common traditional cultural resources of mankind, contemporary Western artistic ideas and visual experience, and the status quo of culture and the development of science and technology in the actual society. The experimental ink and wash we see nowadays is the product of the stimulation from various ideas and modes. Its expression is naturally the process of mutual refraction of extempore states of mind. It aims at supplying certain psychological requirements by the aid of schemata and images. It is obvious that each one has his own psychological reference, and his schemata and images as traces of psychological externalization are different from those of others. Alongside the shift of ideas, the way of solving problems will change, and so will the schemata and images. Therefore, advance and development hinge on the shift of ideas.

　　We should cast aside the so-called cultural strategies, face squarely the works and the compressed space of existence, and exploit our own latent potentialities unceasingly. Inevitably and inextricably living in a culture, we certainly need to express our true feelings. All the meanings arise in the process of our action. Therefore, I think there is only one requirement concerning experimental ink and wash, a requirement concerning the orientation of its creation. It indicates the bottom mark for the artistic level, which will be raised continually.

　　IV. The Establishment of the Language of Experimental Ink and Wash

　　We have complicated the problem of ink and wash in the real environment for so many years. Ink and wash itself is in fact not so complex. Only the richness of ink and wash has so blurred our sense of vision that we have mistaken the past paradigms of ink and wash for the grounds for not seeking change. History is history and cannot supersede the present. We can use history for reference, but the purpose of doing this is to blaze new trails. As far as ink and wash is concerned, new discoveries and breakthroughs can be made only from the angle of cultural structure, and all this presupposes the shift of ideas. Especially at the present day when the diversified pattern has formed, the crux of the establishment of the language of experimental ink and wash is whether the experimenters in ink and wash, who have a special sense of the materials of ink and wash, can deepen their new understanding of the culture of ink and wash, improve their perception and understanding of the properties of ink, water and paper, and understand and master them from the high rational level.

　　In the early 1990s, artists of experimental ink and wash spontaneously refused brush-and-ink-centralism, an idea guiding artistic creation in traditional ink and wash. While breaking with the traditional rules of brushwork and ink applying technique, they abandoned the figurative world of traditional ink and wash in which nature and human beings are depicted. Their pursuit for psychological and spiritual things inspired them to fully exploit the properties of ink, wash and paper and turn to the abstract world. Of late，the creation of schemata has been the general direction of exploration of the artists of experimental ink and wash. Artists manipulate the properties of ink and wash with new ideas, making them convey the schemata at peak capacity for the purpose of expressing the present era. “Modern ink and wash painters are trying to overstep the traditional disputes about the Eastern and the Western cultures and about tradition and modernity. They are trying to go from myriad emotions about everyday social life and judgments on interest conflicts to a broader mysterious world of human culture and psychology and promote the mental communication and self-salvation of modern human beings. Borrowing the words from Arsen Pohribny: “We must raise our heads high and stare at the stars in the sky, instead of looking down at the earth…” This cosmic macroscopic field of vision is embodied in the works of the painter Zhang Yu. This enables modern ink and wash to get out of the image creation, narration and educational role advocated in the modern realistic educational system. Unlike artists of traditional ink and wash who are intoxicated with the interest of the effects of brush and ink themselves and rich local visual variations, artists of modern ink and wash aim at expressing the rich and varied inner world of modern human beings and subtle reflections on life with the inherent logic of ink and wash itself and the possibilities of materials as the starting point. Therefore, the only way for Chinese artists of modern ink and wash to bring their works up to date is to explore new forms of expression in the art of ink and wash and to express modern intellectuals’ macroscopic ideas about human existence. They should use abstract forms and schemata to express something invisible and resume the sense of sacredness.”

　　Today, artists of experimental ink and wash have created schemata and trace images and present their mind and express the truth by means of schemata and trace images into which ideas are infused. Such creation proceeds from the needs of both expression and the establishment of language. Our experiments are varied, some using brush and ink, and others not. Collage, rubbing, paper tearing, mixed media, performance, installation, video, etc., are also used. These methods are both important and unimportant, for they are techniques subordinate to expression. The crux of expression and of the establishment of language is whether they can help to achieve your purpose. While the traditional rules of brush and ink are abandoned, the schemata or trace images of experimental ink and wash themselves lay stress on the importance of the structures of schemata. Structures (“psychological structures” and “structures of the works”) are the crux of the expression of the visual and spiritual tension. They are more closely linked with the psychology and the reality. They are also the only way to the desired realm.

　　It is fatal to the development of art that for a long time we have all along placed emphasis on the concern of reality, but neglected the establishment of language. Nowadays, aiming at the problem of language, experimental ink and wash brings “the properties of water and ink” and “the properties of paper” to the limit, taps fully the potentialities of “water” and “ink” when they are applied to the paper, and exploit thoroughly the possibilities provided by the quality and properties of paper when “water” and “ink” are applied to it. The expression by means of language of experimental ink and wash is contained in the use of ink, water and paper, including the use of mixed media. Once the significance of the mode is determined, particular emphasis will be laid on the handling of ink and water, and the handling of paper, that is, making use of the specific characteristics of paper, will become a focal point.

　　The points mentioned above are my understanding and cognition transcending traditional ink and wash. We can easily find from the works of traditional ink and wash and modern and contemporary ink and wash that painters are generally aware of the use of ink, water and brush. But they have not achieved a deep enough understanding of “ink” and “water” and have not fully tapped their potentialities. They simply have a superficial understanding of “paper”, and have even neglected it. The properties of paper themselves are rich and varied. In different regions, space and time, there will be different structural responses. If, considering the fact that the artists in the past were not aware of or did not solve the problem of bringing the properties of ink and water into full play, the creation of the schemata and trace images of experimental ink and wash is a contribution, then bringing the properties of ink and water to a realm never attained before is also a contribution. It should be said that the development of experimental ink and wash has completed a task not completed in the history of ink and wash. Reviewing the writings about the history of traditional painting, we can find no theory which deals with the use of ink, water and paper from perceptual to rational level. Only the use of brush is discussed frequently. The exploration of the materials of ink and wash by artists of experimental ink and wash has filled in this gap. More important is the fact that experimental ink and wash has created its own mode and has got out of the limits of “genres”. It has ended the problem of traditional ink and wash and has entered the present era.

　　The following is a brief exposition of representative works of schemata and trace images, two creations in the development of experimental ink and wash.

　　1. Non-figurative Schemata

　　a. Divine Light, a representative schematic sign in experimental ink and wash, is a series Zhang Yu began to produce in 1994. In 1998, the series reached its height in terms of expression. By its technical and analytical character this series shows how the formless internal spiritual nature is embodied. In this series, the “water” is used as a tool. First, the artist dips his brush in water and begins to paint on the Xuan paper. Then, making use of the changes of the texture of the Xuan paper as a result of its touch with water, the artist begins to paint repeatedly using the method of shading, a method of showing the shades and texture of rocks and mountains by light ink strokes in traditional Chinese landscape painting. Purely compound method of expression being used, the whole series is both simple and complicated. We describe it as both simple and complicated because the pure methods of shading, accumulate-ink, and spray-ink are used repeatedly from beginning to end. Thus the richness and irreplaceability of ink and wash are fully manifested.

　　For an artist, expression has its own limits. In the Divine Light series, the artist sticks to the using of rich ink and tries to acquire penetrating effect and heaviness and to bring the properties of ink into full play by magnifying intentionally the energy of ink and seeking the subtle variations of ink and wash in extremely dark ink color. Zhang Yu “tries to establish, in the visual space, a new order of ink and wash in the contemporary context” by means of the “controlling power”. He aims at presenting the floating scene of the universe against the dark background shrouded in sound and light through schemata --- incomplete circles, broken squares, and fragments in motion. Fission in the structure happens in the incomplete circles and broken squares in the state of floating, and crumbled fragments appear in the process, striking the mind of the beholder. Conflict, breaking, floating, crisscrossing are intended to convey the complexity, pain, anxiety and uneasiness deep in the human mind. “The important thing is not the written conclusion of an artist, but the psychological influence on us of the images, signs and subtle variations appearing on paper. Such influence exists for everybody and he feels unaccustomed to it. It is not the basis on which we judge the work whether the beholder of the Divine Light series feels ‘anxious and uneasy’ in his heart. Once the specific characteristics of the world produced by the artist are found when this world and the present cultural reality are put together for comparison, various opinions about the ‘contemporary era’ will emerge.”

　　b. The Package of Masses series is the representative work of Shi Guo, and also one of the works of typically schematic significance in experimental ink and wash. Shi Guo created this series in 1997. But as early as 1991, he had begun to apply ink and wash, with the aid of his own understanding of space or the concept of the three-dimensional, to his own “formless” world by first making clay or plaster templates and then making rubbings from them along with spraying, dyeing and painting. This method suggests to us such relevant words as thick, heavy, anxiety, conflict, texture, etc. Shi Guo tries his best to make spirituality and the physical world into an integral whole. “The thing I have been looking for unconsciously is the ‘fragmentary images of grotesque shapes’. I am spellbound by the chaos and wildness transcending history, region and culture manifested by the ‘fragmentary images of grotesque shapes’ in ink and wash. I believe that this is probably due to my liking for spiritual imagery as another form of my humanistic idealism.” (Shi Guo’s own account.) “The dismemberment of actual natural images, the attempt to make the painting coarse, and the borrowing of images from history and from past or alien civilizations, reflect the fact that the artist is consciously or unconsciously approaching the mental state peculiar to the searching of the ultimate cause of life. Shi Guo has accepted the comprehensive method in Western modernist and postmodern art so that he can hardly turn back to traditional ink and wash even if he has adopted traditional materials.”

　　From the Framework of Signs to the Masses, Hermaphrodites and then to the Package of Masses, Shi Guo has all along indulged in the innovation and expression of schemata. Such special space and physical world have appeared in Shi Guo’s works incessantly, but these ever-changing schemata may be regarded by the beholder as corroborating the existence of a general soul. All the questions about “spirituality” can only be asked in this kind of works.

　　The new mode of ink and wash in Divine Light and Masses, Hermaphrodites has greatly transcended the normal mode of traditional ink and wash. Therefore, these works belong to the contemporary spiritual exploration of the contemporary mode of ink and wash.

　　2. Practicing Buddhism and Trace Images

　　a. The Fingerprints is a typical example of trace images in experimental ink and wash. Its significance lies in its attempt to turn its possibilities into reality independent of any existing norms. The early works in the Fingerprints series were created in 1991, and interestingly, after putting this series aside for ten years, in 2002, Zhang Yu’s enthusiasm of creation turned from the Divine Light completely to the Fingerprints. This time, the process of the creation of the Fingerprints series becomes that of the cultivation of his willpower. This series contains some cultural implications, but its more important significance is that it has reflected some judgments and considerations about experimental ink and wash, and these judgments and considerations have clear aims and have achieved a breakthrough.

　　“The peculiarity of Zhang Yu’s Fingerprints series lies in its being regarded as the material embodiment of personal identity. Therefore, it carries the dual implication of social relation and personal life. He does not express this implication in a dual form, but instead, he adopts the mode of putting fingerprints to paper by pressing at will. As Zhang Yu writes in one of his essays, the Fingerprints, just like the fragmental notes about everyday thoughts, manifests the implications it contains while leaving natural and free traces. Therefore, the principles of composition, gradation, structure, or concept of ‘wholeness’ and so on become unimportant in Zhang Yu’s Fingerprints series. The opposition of the subjective and the objective, of spirit and material, of the center and the margin is not emphasized here. The series is not the embodiment of the cosmic spirit or of the artist’s own speculations, or the product of purely physical motion. No fingerprint has a clear margin. The work itself has recorded a natural, repeated and intermittent process. Zhang Yu does not intend to lead the beholder to merely ‘look at’ or ‘think about’ his work. Instead, he intends to lead them to imagine every moment when his finger touches the paper.”

　　Through the Fingerprints series he has produced, with a tenacity no ordinary people can attain, using the method similar to self-cultivation of Buddhist monks, Zhang Yu tries to dispel the form of easel painting by neglecting modern Western visual experience by means of performance. At the same time, he has abandoned thoroughly the mode of traditional ink and wash and entered the extremely individualized and contemporary mode of expression.

　　b. The Line Grid series is the product of Li Huasheng’s sudden enlightenment in his ink and wash experiment in 1998, and also a topic deserving discussion in the development of experimental ink and wash. Li Huasheng’s course of artistic creation is a special one. In more than ten years before 1997, he was well known overseas for his unique style of mountains-and-waters painting following the norms of traditional ink and wash. Today, it is said that Li Huasheng’s abstract line grids originated from his sudden enlightenment in the everyday environment. But the good grounding in basic skills reflected in his trace images of “line grids ” indeed comes from his practice in the creation of mountains-and-waters paintings. In his Line Grids series, Li Huasheng has reduced, within the range of the norms of traditional ink and wash, the traditional brushwork and ink applying technique to the minimum, and changed the center-tip strokes into thin center-tip lines. By strong willpower, he takes great pains in drawing crossed lines. This is indeed a kind of Buddhist practice. His explanation is that he is “devoted to the experiment with nihility in a nihilist attitude.” Whatever the explanation is, it is obvious that the artist has fused the traditional mode of ink and wash and modern Western visual experience ingeniously. The world formed by “line grids” seemingly dry and dull but in fact full of variations is a unique mode in experimental ink and wash. This mode is rational as well as contemporary.

　　Those who have made full use of brush and ink will surely cast doubt on these representative works of art: Can experiments in ink and wash really be done in such a way? But this truly shows the importance of the practice of these artists. For, beginning with the attempt to “get out of ink and wash”, they are trying to establish the contemporary mode of Chinese art truly belonging to themselves and to the present era. Although they have rejected the rules of traditional ink and wash, but they have not overstepped the bounds. The spirit of ink and wash remains!

　　V. The Strategy of Being Open of Experimental Ink and Wash

　　If the culture of ink and wash is self-contained due to its uniqueness, this self-containedness will surely be an impediment to the development of ink and wash. In fact, the character of ink and wash and the materials used in it have great potentialities which may be made use of and exploited. I put forward the viewpoint of “getting out of ink and wash” in 1999 mainly for the reason that, because experimental ink and wash has overstepped the lowest limit, it is impossible to make judgments in the controversy about “brush-and-ink” and “non-brush-and-ink”, “extinct” and “surviving”, and about the pseudo-problem whether experimental ink and wash has the contemporary character. Actually, the more we dispute about such problems, the more we will go on a narrow path and feel embarrassed. We will be increasingly away from the essence of art and from the foundation of the development of ink and wash. The discussion about “brush-and-ink” and “non-brush-and-ink”, “extinct” and “surviving”, has nothing to do with the development of experimental ink and wash. It is as a contemporary mode that experimental ink and wash made its first appearance in the art scene, and “getting out of ink and wash” is latent in its appearance.

　　Experimental ink and wash in the late 1990s was already far away from traditional ink and wash. No link existed between the two except the essence of their cultural origin and the materials their used. The only thing we strive for is the “ink and wash spirit”. The strategy of “getting out of ink and wash” is still the strategy for the promotion and development of experimental ink and wash and for the transformation of ink and wash into the contemporary mode of art. It means a reiteration of our standpoint of breaking with the rules of traditional ink and wash. It calls for getting out of the limits of “the genre of ink and wash”, getting out of narrowness and prejudices. It advocates criticism, dialogue and exchange in the face of the common problems about contemporary art. In a word, the problems which need discussion are about the essence of art and about contemporary art, and materials and techniques are behind them. Therefore, artists can be unscrupulous for the sake of expression. All that is needed is rational. The purpose of being unscrupulous is to embody contemporary thoughts, spirit, ideas, and modes in the work. This, exactly, is the essence of art, the intention and purpose of “getting out of ink and wash”. It is also my motive and desire from which I have made great and unremitting efforts to edit and publish the series The Trend of Modern Chinese Art of Ink and Wash at the End of the 20th Century and to plan a series of artistic activities concerned. Of course, besides the promotion of the interaction between experiment in art and theoretical research by connecting artists and critics in the text-making process, it is important to strive for the right of discourse, look for new possibilities, and seize the opportunities of advancement.

　　The position of contemporary Chinese art in the world, unavoidably, is always what we think about and are alert to. In carrying on our cultural spirit, it is important to put ourselves in the right place. We must not be satisfied with feeling well for ourselves. Perhaps our behavior or ideas need correction, and the research on methods is going deep continuously. According to my personal experience, the most important thing for the development of ink and wash is the change in understanding and ideas. Without the change of ideas, only superficial changes are possible. Therefore, we have no reason to speak about the “problem of ink and wash”, and we cannot speak about it in isolation, for, in the greater context, there is only the problem of contemporary art rather than the “problem of ink and wash”. Only in the context of contemporary art can the true value of experimental ink and wash be seen clearly.

　　VI. The End of the Problem of Ink and Wash

　　Now perhaps we have a comparatively clear idea of the process of development and the academic tendency of experimental ink and wash. In fact, the appearance and development of experimental ink and wash has put two points before us which we must think about：1. A conception and method of experimental ink and wash with art-historical significance and an entirely new and contemporary mode of ink and wash are created. But this mode of ink and wash has no direct connection with the norms of traditional ink and wash, for its innovation must be predicated on the refusal of the rules of traditional ink and wash. Its link with the past can only be its relation with cultural tradition and its presentation of cultural spirit. 2. Through its methodological research, experimental ink and wash has ended the problem of ink and wash in the “norms of traditional ink and wash”. Therefore, besides the creation of another line of ink and wash, experimental ink and wash has also created schemata and trace images.

　　Experimental ink and wash has broken with the rules of traditional ink and wash, and at the same time has cut itself off from the complex problem of ink and wash. In this way it has completed its historical mission and faces the problems of contemporary art directly. As a matter of fact, this is the inevitable outcome of the development of experimental ink and wash and of the development of ink and wash as well, unless we do not want to develop ink and wash and to express contemporary spirit. For the ultimate problems art expresses in any era are all directed straight to life and spirit. Therefore the pursuit of a genuine artist will be restricted by nothing. Such is the relation between experimental and traditional ink and wash. It is as if veiled by a piece of window paper for lattice windows, which we need not poke through too early. Everything seems to be in the preparation of the strategy. But this process must be natural. Success will come when conditions are ripe. In short, Zhang Yu has transcended form and conceptions with the performance of putting “fingerprints” to the paper repeatedly, similar to the Buddhist practice, and presents such a mode of expression that the paper is full of traces which are as if bearing the artist’s temperature. Liu Xuguang explores, by means of video, the mode of expression characterized by the reaction and variation of the ink in the “ink drops” with the lapse of time. In the works by Wang Tiande, a painter adopting the method of painting through burning, the images on the paper beneath the first layer of paper expose themselves in the burnt-away parts of the first layer which are themselves images as well. These modes or methods of expression in these trace images, belonging to the category of contemporary art with ink and wash materials as its media, cannot in any way be mentioned in the same breath with specific problems of ink and wash, for we pay more attention to ink and wash in culture and in reality, and the spirit in the culture of ink and wash.

　　With the development of experimental ink and wash, new problems about art have appeared and expanded continuously, impelling the artists direct their creative projects straight to spiritual ink and wash. This is what is expected in contemporary art and a necessary result. For the appearance and development of experimental ink and wash is basically the result of cultural development and a strategy of the artists. The culture of ink and wash, I think, should bring a broader prospect for contemporary art and create a new view in this field. What is the life pursuit of us artists? The spiritual realm! Especially at the present day when material desires dominate, money worship prevails, and money is put above anything else. People are no longer in pursuit of originality, realm or spirit. In such a situation, I admire those contemporary artists who dare to challenge themselves, to produce art with mixed media, to question their own culture, and to deal with problems of art from the angle of cultural problems. I once came across an article about Nobuyoshi Araki. The great photographer thinks that “the appearance of Cai Guoqiang’s mode of art is basically due to the existence of the Chinese thought of ink and wash. A kind of ink and wash spirit is contained in his works.” He even says, “The new century is a demarcation line. It will be an era in which the ink and wash spirit dominates.” And he adds, “I envy you your character of ‘being soaked in ink and wash’.” I am moved by the insight of this foreign artist whom I admire very much for this. Since even a foreign artist can apprehend the essence of the culture of ink and wash and can feel this ink and wash spirit in the culture of ink and wash from the works of our artists, we…

　　Thus, when we, using new methods, press on towards ink and wash spirit in our artistic creation and ideal, the ink and wash spirit becomes the fundamental problem. However, is the problem of ink and wash in ink and wash still important?

　　In the era of digits and reproduction, spiritual ink and wash and ink and wash spirit should be all the more the object of our pursuit. Spirit alone is the most important thing in ink and wash.

　　I have mentioned many times in this article such phrases as getting out of ink and wash, breaking with the rules of traditional ink and wash, and ink and wash spirit. With these phrases put side by side, the reader may feel that it seems paradoxical: experimental ink and wash is expected to get out of ink and wash and break with the rules of traditional ink and wash, and at the same time to show the ink and wash spirit. How can it show ink and wash spirit since it is expected to get out of ink and wash? It seems that experimental ink and wash has developed in such a paradox from the very beginning. As a matter of fact, a careful analysis of the problem will bring us a new understanding. It is logical rather than paradoxical: “getting out of ink and wash”, in experimental ink and wash, means getting out of the limits of the genre of ink and wash and its existing norms, and “breaking with the rules of traditional ink and wash” means refusing to apply conventional rules of brushwork and ink applying technique, and also means getting out of existing rules of ink and wash, but experimental ink and wash will not break with the essence of ink and wash and the culture of ink and wash. We break the rules of ink and wash, but we do it without overstepping the bounds. The purpose of getting out of ink and wash and breaking from the rules of traditional ink and wash lies in the creation of new modes of expression of ink and wash. What do “the bounds” refer to? They refer to the standard, the extent, the marrow, the essence of ink and wash, its cultural thought and its spirit. Then, where is the ink and wash spirit of the new mode of ink and wash after this “getting out of” and “breaking from”, and what does today’s “ink and wash spirit” refer to? In my understanding, it refers to the transformation, by means of ink and wash, of the expression of reality and ideal into the Oriental ideal manifested by the merging of the Taiji images, the realm of Chan, Oriental temperament and flavor in contemporary culture of ink and wash with the general culture of the present era. The Oriental ideal of merging is transcendental. It is a self-existential spirit lying somewhere between generality and differences.

　　Merging is the most prominent feature and the spirit of the present age. It is the juncture for the new ink and wash to score more considerable achievements, the crux of the embodiment of ink and wash spirit in the new ink and wash, and also an opportunity of adding new splendor to Oriental culture in the world today.

　　Of course, the contemporary art created by means of ink and wash is the manifestation of ink and wash spirit. At the same time, the manifestation of ink and wash spirit lies not merely in ink and wash itself and its mode of expression, but also in the holding of the standpoint and conviction of the culture of ink and wash and in the personality charm. In other words, it is man’s controlling power, and the spiritual transformation of man’s understanding of the world. For all this depends on the man, on his understanding and his spiritual realm. As a matter of fact, the appearance and development of experimental ink and wash is also the manifestation of ink and wash spirit. Therefore, there are various ways to manifest ink and wash spirit, and we still have to deepen our understanding, further our exploration, refer to knowledge and experience of other disciplines, and try to make breakthroughs at the new and constantly changing growing points of culture.

　　Experimental ink and wash is the last scene of the transformation to modernity of Chinese art of ink and wash in the 20th century. It is indispensable in the development of art and has become part of history. It is for this reason that experimental ink and wash is of great significance. It has widened our field of view. Henceforth we may have new expectations. We are clear that the philosophic concept of modern art has the meaning of repudiation, negation, destruction and deconstruction.

　　I have put forward the viewpoint of “the end of the problem of ink and wash” because I hope that we can extricate ourselves from the numerous entanglements and trammels. Without the restrictions of conventions and taboos, the artists will be allowed to dance freely under the bright sky. The methodological exploration will probably broaden our space of artistic creation, and perhaps a new history of ink and wash will be written.

First draft in Tianjin, December 5, 2006

Revised version in Beijing, January 12, 2007