During our conversation last March in Beijing, Zhang Yu explained to me that he does not conceive of his fingerprint works as ‘paintings’. He emphasized the mental process of using his finger to place endless dots of paint on large scrolls of paper. The works more closely expressed his inner moodandconcentration. Zhang Yu’s correction of my first impression made me realize that my Western way of seeing was limited and that I at least needed a further interpretation of his work.

　　After reading about his work and after more conversations I realized that Zhang Yu’s work draws from the long tradition of Chinese inkand wash painting and that he was one of the most innovative artists to renew this tradition in the 1980s. Some Chinese critics like Fang Zhenningseehis work in the context of performance. (Fang Zhenning, Silent Sounds of Heaven, 2011) Although the Western notion of performance art may not be appropriate to the fingerprint works, it certainly captures the physical aspect of how Zhang executes these works. It is a transformational practice of mental and physical energy that finally manifests itself in the fingerprint dots on rice paper. In discussing this idea, Fang Zhenning referred to the cultivating practices of Buddhism and Daoism, but also rejected the idea that Zhang’s performance should be considered a direct result of religious practices. Fang Zhenning explains the origin of Zhang’s language of fingerprints. As he states: “the character for ‘one’ (yi -) is the fundamental brushstroke of Chinese Characters…At a philosophical level, however, ‘one’ is the foundation of all things. Laozi also says: “Heaven achieves Oneness and thus is bright”. In this sense ‘One’ signifies a return to essentials, a return to origins. And this Oneness has continuity: “Beginning and End are as one”. This idea applied to the fingerprint works of Zhang Yu means that there is no focus; there is instead the continuous act of printing dots on the paper or the canvas whichrequires intense concentration.

　　The content of the work comes from the controlled imprint of ink on the surface because there are no references to any elements of our visual surroundings. In this way these works can be considered abstract tableaus. And, similarly to the abstract paintings of Mondrian and Malevich, the structure of the paint (how the brushstrokes modulate the paint) is also an important element. But in Mondrian’s abstract work one can find small corrections like painting over a line to create a better balance between line, plane andcolour. These kinds of corrections are rarely found in the work of Zhang Yu. There are a few areas where he reapplies his fingerprints, creating a slightly different density, or there is a difference in the pressure of the fingerprint or thickness of the paint. When the canvas or paper roll is large, in particular, the process might require several applications. It is quite possible that the artist’s mood or his concentration can vary. This requires full physical and mental concentration every time in order to achieve a result that gives a sense of radiant light and the effect of perfection without interruption. The technique of finger-painting existed as early as the Qing Dynasty, and had been described by a famous master, Fang Xun (1736 -1799) .(Wang Jiaji, Zhang Yu, Traces and Touches of the Mind, April 2010) In general, Fang emphasized the importance of direct physical contact of the finger with the paper. It is therefore the most direct artistic expression that one can make. In the Chinese tradition of finger-painting, however, the ink was always applied to the paper in a fluent and rhythmic way as if it were done with a brush. The well-trained masters’ skill and expression were manifested in moving gestures. But in contrast with practitioners of earlier techniques, Zhang Yu is a modernist. He doesn’t neglect the technical aspect at all, but he also relies on his own conceptual approach with no intention to represent the visual world exactly. At the same time Zhang conceives of his work as related to nature on a higher level when he states: “Basically, the expression of the ‘fingerprint’ is based on nature. I believe that nature is the highest state. It leads to everything. Philosophy, aesthetics and oriental culture areall represented in nature. So is Zen, which is also conceived of in the context of nature”. (Taste of the East, Masterpieces of Chinese Art, exhibition of the works from the HOW Art Museum in the Shanghai Art Museum Shanghai, p. 125. Shanghai, 2012)

　　It is remarkable that Zhang uses this nearly metaphysical notion of nature as a comprehensive idea that includes the outside and the inside worlds. This comes close to descriptions by Piet Mondrian, one of the founders of abstract art,of the essence of his artistic approach toward Neo-Plasticism (NieuweBeelding). Around 1917 Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg formulated ideas for their nonobjective and geometrical style and published articles about these ideas in a magazine called De Stijl (The Style). Using the ideas of Neo-Plasticism, Mondrian opposes himself to art with a representational relationship to the natural world. Art should limit itself topure elements of pictorial design, like straight lines and rectanglesoriented strictly in horizontal and vertical directions, and to the primary colors –blue, red and yellow along with black, white and grey. When he creates his balanced compositions, the lines or planes are limited to the size of the canvas, but for Mondrian the composition is part of a much wider universe and his compositions should be conceived as continuing endlessly beyond the boundary of the painting. In this process of abstraction, and in his search for the essence of nature, the artist should escape from the particular and the accidental phenomena in nature and achieve the expression of the ideal of universal harmony. But Mondrian is also aware that there is a contradiction between the world that already exists (nature) and the harmonious world that an artist shapes conceptually (idea) when he is executing a work of art. Although there are of course many differences between the artistic starting points and ideas of De Stijl artists and Zhang, there are also some remarkable parallels like the constant use of opposing elements that can be traced in the notion of Ying and Yang and their efforts to create balance by eliminating oppositions.

　　In addition to Mondrian, I would like to compare Zhang’s work to another artist who has been important for the development of twentieth century (Western) art and whoseartistic ideasapproach those of Zhang Yu. This artist is Yves Klein, one of the founders of the Nouveau Réalistes (New Realism) movement in 1960. This comparison came to my mind when Zhang told me a story of a monk as an example of the way Zhang feels when he makes a work of art. The monk, named Yin Shun was a disciple of the Grand Master Tai Xu. He studied Buddhism intensively and contributed greatly to the introduction of Indian Buddhism to China. He once lived in seclusion in Chiayi, Taiwan. At this time, he was totally isolated from the outside world. As a result, he had nothing to face but his own life, connecting himself with heaven and earth by his understanding of life. In seclusion one cannot clarify their thoughts without resonating with life and universe. In other words, only in seclusion or in a void can an artist attain such understanding. This parable reminded me of a particular work that Yves Klein made in 1958. He organized an exhibition with an empty room with white walls. He called this space “zones de sensibilitépicturaleimmatérielle” (zones of immaterial pictorial sensibility). It was a space that Klein had used himself to develop new ideas or to experience its emptiness. Visitors were invited to do the same in the room. This transcendental sensibility is the key to Klein’s artistry and work. He expressed it thusly: “What exists beyond our being and yet always belongs to us.” ( PierreRestany, Yves Klein, p. 8. New York, 1982) By establishing emptiness as an invisible painterly environment, the viewer can enter into a state of ecstasy and undergo emotional experiences. The artwork on display is no longer the bearer of ideas – instead the emptiness creates a mystical and liberating experience of infiniteness. This notion is also visible in his Monochromes, paintings with pure pigments glued on with a synthetic binding. Most of the time he uses blue because, for Klein, blue has no dimension and ultimately might refer to the sea or the sky. But like Zhang’s rejection of a visual reference, Klein similarly does not want to reflect visual or tactile reality. Klein’s transcendent or mystic ideasare influenced by his studies of the esoteric Christian order of the Rosicrucians. But Klein was also influenced by Eastern thinking. Fascinated by judo, Klein made a trip to Japan to practice, but also to learn from the spiritual background of this sport. He uses his experiences for his Anthropometries, a performance-like spectacle in which he had nude, paint-covered women making imprints on a white canvas while an audience watched. Klein himself acted as a conductor of the artwork without ever touching the painting himself.

　　Yves Klein. ANT 82, Anthropométrie de l’époque bleue.1960. Pure pigments and synthetisch rosin on paper, glued on canvas. 156,5 x 282,5 cm. Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

　　Action-spectacle of March 9, 1960. Galerie ~Internationale d’Art Contemporain, Paris

　　These examples of Yves Klein’s works and performances may place the work of Zhang in a context in which several parallels and differences come to mind. First the idea of imprinting by hand or by the body. In the case of Klein, this technique was meant to distance himself from the expressionistic painting of the fifties and to achieve a more objective and purer use of pictorial means. For Zhang the imprint is much more personal. The personal touch or print of his hand immediately relates to his identity. But both artists try to create the sensation of a sensitive infinite space and try to visualize the supernatural of the absolute. What also strikes me is the way both artists emphasize the execution of a work. There is – even in Klein’s Anthropometries – a concentration in the work that can be felt. It embodies both a distant and very individual energy that creates a poetry that is very human and, at the same time, encompasses material nature and pays tribute to the idea “that the thinking man is longer the centre of the universe but the universe the centre of man”. (Restany, P, Yves Klein, p. 56)

　　It is always dangerous to compare artists. All good artists are individuals with unique capacities and ideas. To compare artists in order to draw a parallel, one can rely too heavily on sources and factual information. Such a comparison can sometimes overshadow visual details or personal intentions. However, by juxtaposing artistic ideas from different parts of the world and drawing on different cultural origins one can sometimes make new discoveries. Sometimes universal meaning or significance can only be discovered through the process of comparing. I once had a conversation with the Italian Arte Povera artist Luciano Fabro on the importance of context. We were talking about the possibility of prejudices of Western curators or artists toward art from other regions. I told Fabro that after a visit to South Africa, where I met several artists who I had only known by name previously, I was tempted to talk about the context of artworks to give others (the public) a helping hand in order to get closer to the essence of the work. But he rejected this idea emphatically by saying that “a work of art always speaks for itself”.

Maarten Bertheux

April 2012