ZHANG Yu (1959- ) has been the key figure of “Contemporary Experimental Ink Painting” in China since the 1990s. He has not only been the trumpeter of its theory but also an artist in practice. Zhang disclosed in a recent article that in taking “experiment” as a means for the avant-garde in the making of contemporary ink art, two new forms have been laid out. One is the “non-figurative schemata” and the other the “trace images.” When viewed amid Zhang’s personal creative context, his “Divine Light” series stood for the non-figurative schemata. Zhang began to develop this series in 1994, and reached the peak of the series in 1998. “Trace Images” is represented by his “Fingerprints” series. The series was first presented in 1991. After putting the series aside for over a decade, Zhang regained this experimental format and has started to develop the series again until the present day.

　　In his “Divine Light” series, Zhang Yu intended to return to what he called “the simplicity and originality of ink painting.” He used only the rice paper and ink monochrome with Chinese writing brush and paintbrush as tools. In his creative process, according to Zhang, he “kept maintaining the richness and subtle variations of ink washes” and tried to “control the spatial relationship within the whole picture plane.” The “Divine Light” series has applied a technique piling up inks repeating the brushwork that intentionally created an effect with “ink traces running on the rice paper.” “The Incomplete Circle” and “The Broken Square” were not only the linguistic signs Zhang carried out on purpose, but also common subheadings in the “Divine Light” series. Regarding the consciousness of creativity, the concept of circle and square still continued and extended the cosmic view of traditional Chinese philosophy and intended to reveal an emotive space featuring modern significance from within.

　　Taking the traditional Chinese Yin-Yang binary point of view, Zhang tried to pave a modernized way out of the linguistic structure of the circle and square as an Eastern strategy resisting against and balancing with Western abstract art. In fact, similar efforts had been put forth by artists in Taiwan, such as the “Fifth Moon Group” and the “Eastern Art Group” in the late 1950s and 1960s. The most famous of them include: CHEN Ting-Shih (1915-2002), LIU Kuo-Sung (1932- ) and LEE Shi-Chi (1938- ), etc. Even today, the circle and square structure as a stylistic strategy exerting Chinese and pan-oriental significances is still a common and convenient language for a lot of Taiwanese artists who have situated themselves in the lineage of “modern ink art.” Comparatively, Zhang Yu’s “Divine Light” series deserves to be viewed within the context of Mainland China’s art development in order to figure out its significance as an important experiment in the 1990’s contemporary Chinese art scene, especially in the realm of ink painting.

　　To some degree, the rise of experimental ink art in Mainland China in the 1990s has reflected the repression of the socialist realism on various artistic expressions since the 1950s. Under the pressure of prevalent socialist ideology, experimental art or art of the avant-garde became rather taboo, so there was no presence of abstract art before the 1980s in China. Moreover, because of the “correction” and persecution of LIN Fengmian (1900-1991) in the early Chinese Cultural Revolution, the imagery of “black mountains” and “black waters” as expressions of ink painting was deemed as an ideological crime. Taking this in perspective, the fact that Chinese contemporary experimental ink painting’s trial on abstract form and its dialectic on the essence of painting started only as late as the 1990s can be regarded as a belatedness of “modernity.”

　　Setting off from the contemporary standpoint, Zhang Yu entitled his works “Divine Light” and used “The Incomplete Circle” and “The Broken Square” as subheadings, which indicated that his intentions were still attached to the issue of transforming the traditions. Zhang was also highly conscious of the “modernity” in his aesthetic vision of how to embody the spirituality of ink painting. Not only are “The Incomplete Circle” and “The Broken Square” literary, they are also retrospections of conventional ink painting. In regard to visual presentation, the “Divine Light” series has created a dark and deep mysterious space. Zhang claimed that his works belonged to the non-figurative “schemata”; yet they have created their own universe and appealed to people to associate them with vestiges within emptiness. Once in 1998, Zhang Yu indicated that the “Divine Light” series had originated from the concept of “calligraphic painting.” Nevertheless, the pictures he formatted were more imaginary orogenesis than “writing.” As for the application of media, the tableaus of “Divine Light” series were mainly composed of accumulated ink washes. Applying the brushwork overlapped with textures, ink piles and even splashy dyes, the imagery of “The Incomplete Circle” and “The Broken Square” eventually shaped a physical associated volumetric space shaped by accumulated ink blocks on the rice paper.

　　If the creative consciousness of the “Divine Light” series mainly concerned the “brush-and-ink” tradition which Chinese painting took pride in as the major conversationalist, the “Fingerprints” series can be regarded as Zhang’s artistic experiment with a further avant-garde attitude. In the “Fingerprints” series, Zhang has abandoned the conventional painting skill with painting brush on ink. He used his right index finger to dip into the ink and colors. He also dipped using only spring water or clear water to leave pressed traces on the rice paper in order to compose the fundamental modeling element that structured the tableau.

　　Though not common to Chinese painting, drawing with one’s index finger or hand was not innovative because it had been done since the early times. During the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, painter and theorist FANG Xun (1736-1799) had expounded on the history of Chinese “finger paintings” in his book, titled “Talks on Painting by ‘Quiet Dwelling on the Mountain.’” Fang traced back the origin of “finger painting” to ZHANG Zao of the Tang Dynasty’s, who was active in the late 8th century. Fang also recorded prominent painters who drew paintings with fingers such as WU Wei (1459-1508) and WANG Zhao (active around the early 16th century). Descended from the Qing Dynasty, the most famous finger painter, without doubt, was GAO Qi-Pei (1660-1734). In the 20th century, master painter PAN Tian-Shou (1897-1971) was also skilled in painting with his fingers.

　　Although the painters mentioned were legendary for their unique finger skills, painting with fingers, fingertips, or hands do not really belong to the orthodoxy, viewed in context of the history of Chinese painting. In other words, conventional finger painting was mainly regarded as an alternative delight of ink painting. From the perspective of ink painting, even though traditional painters used their finger to dip ink, discarding the supremacy of “bone method” dictated by brushes, they still called attention to the rhythm of ink flowing on paper or silk. Touching upon the theme of “finger painting,” Fang Xun’s rhetoric emphasized the “unscrupulously carefree” image as created by the painters who applied this skill. In his Record of Paintings of the Qing Dynasty, ZHANG Geng (1685-1760) described the elderly GAO Qi-Pei’s “finger painting” took advantage of his “fingering” to manifest the expressiveness of ink. Zhang used the description “liable to wield and splash” to stress the feature of such paintings. Whether it is “unscrupulously carefree” or “liable to wield and splash,” they both point out the painters’ aesthetic considerations when they decide to use their fingers to paint. The interests of traditional finger painting, from this point of view, still serve the conventional imagery and aesthetic mechanism as the pillar supporting its visual format.

　　The creative experiments Zhang Yu has worked on with “Fingerprints” are obviously different from the established tradition of finger painting. He has assumed a “finger method” with finger dipped in ink or water, and proceeded through a series of pressing actions on the rice paper. Although Zhang Yu has defined “Fingerprints” as the making of “trace images” in his own words, his finished works cannot be easily seen as any specific “imagery” at all. The tableau he built with pressed fingerprints does not provide any “resembling” associable to existing images. If we discuss “fingerprints” in view of “pictorial images,” Zhang’s works should be regarded as pure abstraction without any allusion to physical association, simplification or conceptualization found in the real world.

　　“Fingerprints” is the execution of pressed prints that seemingly bears the consciousness and feature of “performance.” And “performance” is conceptually an “enactment.” Yet Zhang Yu has emphasized the result of “vestige” in fingerprints he pressed and imprinted on the rice paper. In this sense, while “performance art” intends to endow “behavior/action” a meaning in itself, “Fingerprints,” as a physical record of traces, is eventually closer to “making a painting,” therefore different in its intrinsic quality.

　　In his personal statement for the series of “Fingerprints,” Zhang Yu has mentioned that “Fingerprints,” as “a way of behavior related to our bodies,” is closely connected to the formality of “contract” in traditional Chinese society. As a matter of fact, if we put it more precisely, in view of a “contract” engagement, the execution of “fingerprints” means the affirmation and reassurance of identity, just like fingerprint is considered an alternative “identity” in the world today. Since it has to do with the identification for identity, the use of fingerprints, as a replacement of brushes, can also be seen as a declaration of subjectivity. Significantly, “Fingerprints” has become Zhang Yu’s purposeful choice as well as a retrospection and dialogue to the brush-and-ink system in the traditional paintings. It gives prominence to the artist’s contemporary position and condition.

　　The execution of fingerprints, in its form, is radically different from the carefree wielding of ink. With highly reserved and self-conscious finger method, Zhang Yu made the imprints of his fingertip present in circular form and controlled them within a small ambit. Through repeated act of pressed imprints, Zhang constructs a seemingly homogeneous abstract tableau. With every possible interrelation—sometimes parallel, sometimes unevenly overlapping, and sometimes forming a stricter grammar—the colored dots interlace closely in geometry. In general, Zhang has maximized the minimal form and filled his tableau with it.

　　The sense of touch is the other distinctive character of Zhang Yu’s work. In the relationship as generated between the fingertip and rice paper, the balanced controlled dots belong to the consciousness of modeling, and the sense of pressed touch is more of a core to the creativity of “Fingerprints.” The traces created by the hard pressing of fingertip on paper produce certain vestiges of touch. The trace of touch is also the revelation of the mind; therefore the “Fingerprints” series can be understood as the achievement of the artist’s personal training in “the methods of mind.”

　　Compared to the orogenesis consciousness endowed by Zhang Yu in the “Divine Light” series, “Fingerprints” is presented as anti-narrative, anti-lyrical and anti-imagery. If “Fingerprints” is regarded as a collective entity for the methods of the mind or the embodiment of the artist’s personal subjectivity, “Fingerprints,” as a visual record, has revealed more about the repetitive conversation and dialogue about the artist “me.” Furthermore, every trace of touch is the embodiment of the immediate “idea” of “me.” These ideas come and go, and they are all clones of “me.” It is worth pointing out that under strict and conscious control, Zhang’s every single thought is tamed as harmonized dots. Traces of touch integrate and vary in their depths and shapes, but they all reflect the infinite repetitions of ideas and their symbiotic extinction and revival. In that sense, the method of mind involved in “Fingerprints” seems to be related to the concept of Chan Buddhism.

　　Zhang Yu’s typical “Fingerprints” is filled with evenly spread dots over large-sized paper. The proportion of the painting is reminiscent of traditional Chinese scrolls. The work tends to create a complicated sensation combining touches and visuals with the repetitions of a single motif in a non-plot monotony to generate spirituality pregnant with meaning.

　　In his discussion the tradition of “representation,” American art historian Norman Bryson used Chinese paintings as antithesis to Western history of art. Bryson indicated that the application of brushwork in Chinese painting bears a “deictic” (meaning “to show”) quality. Viewers are able to visually trace back the lapse of time and its sequence through the traces the painter left on paper or silk as if they have witnessed the process, during which the artist was executing the brush and ink. According to Bryson, even though landscape is certainly the subject for the traditional Chinese painter, “the work of the brush” also serves as the extension of the artist’s own body. It is equally a “subject” for the artist to make the viewer feel as if he is watching the artist working in “real time.” Through the traces of brush and ink, the viewer seems to witness the labor of the artist’s body at the moment of his creativity—in comparison to Western art, Bryson believes that such an act bears an apparent quality of “performing” art.

　　Recently, Zhang Yu has made the creative process of his “Fingerprints” into visual record through synchronized videotaping and editing. With this video recording, viewers are able to further verify the observation and interpretation that Norman Bryson has asserted. Though the use of fingerprints is obviously different from painting brushes, it involves more straightforward physical movements. As the video shows, Zhang Yu has confirmed the potential for the “Fingerprints” to become a ritualistic “performance.” Nonetheless, it is equally worth pointing out that, as an art of time, the completed “tableau” of “Fingerprints” has already lost the linearity of time. Once “Fingerprints” is finalized as a painting, no viewer is able to trace back the sequence of the finger-printing unless one views the video or watch Zhang Yu’s creative moments in real time. Even the artist himself can only remember the sequence of the set-up without clearly identifying the exact sequence of every print.

　　“Fingerprints” is about the accumulation or overlapping of time. Every touch of the artist’s fingerprint can be compared to the movement of a Chinese “Go” chess piece. The difference is that Zhang has faced a total blank without the game board lines. Moreover, while facing the void, the artist confronts only himself. There are no rules or restrictions for this chess game, no combat between the black and white binary. Using “fingerprints” as his writing medium, Zhang Yu is in fact facing the bare selfness of being an artist himself. Is the blankness in the eyes a reflection of order and moral? Or the reflection of the personal innate disorder and panic? Or even a full-scale warfare that will eventually befall as a vestige of psychological projection? Zhang Yu’s “Fingerprints” is the sum total of periods of time. It is not a representative embodiment of the real world. Since it is the direct proof of the artist’s mind, it has shown complicated rises and downfalls of the artist’s psychological condition, its development and its changes.

　　Setting out from the very place within Zhang’s innerness, though the finished tableaus of “Fingerprints” are abstract and full of private psychological symbols and code, they are conversations the artist has had with the physical world.

　　By Chia Chi Jason WANG