Chinese artists’ use of ink wash in their work is an exceedingly natural choice for them; hence the continuation of the expressive techniques of this traditional form of painting is not only emblematic of a major form of Eastern art but also both a tangible and an intangible spiritual resource in philosophy and aesthetics.

　　Looking back at the development of ink wash paintings down through the generations, if these developments are to be discerned by means of the expressive power of the artist’s ink wash technique, referring to their classic ink wash works in that assessment, we have yet to observe a new representative ink wash form strictly unique to the 21st century. Scrutinizing Chinese experimental ink wash in conceptual and methodological terms, however, and it is evident that it has accrued a significant energy and an emergent powerfully innovative character.

　　The Metamorphosis of Experimental Ink Wash

　　Experimental ink wash painting in China is not of the rigidly pictorial variety. Since the advent of China’s so-called “1985 New Wave” arts movement, trends have taken shape out of a previous state of semi-consciousness and after a more than two-decade journey probing experimental ink wash compositional theory and real-world exhibitions, ink wash painting has gradually shed constraints on form and developed in a direction of greater diversity. The differentiating characteristic of experimental ink wash lies in its emphasis on individualistic expression, with a non-pictorial perceptive approach supplanting the singular model of “depicting spirit through form.”

　　Through the language of ink wash painting these artists directly convey their own individual feelings and experiences at a given moment in time, conceiving radical visual imagery emerging in their ink wash innovations. Experimental ink wash takes precepts from art history and an accompanying written narrative as the artist progressively penetrates the social and cultural issues of humanity.

　　Yet among the many artists exploring “experimental ink wash,” the work of the northerner Zhang Yu is particularly worthy of note. Zhang has not only published a manifesto on the theoretical composition and cultural perspective of experimental ink wash painting but has meanwhile assiduously inserted his own physical presence into his works, particularly in his view of ink wash as just one link in a contemporary artistic context, and moving away from the structure of the ink wash itself and entering into a profound dialogue on contemporary human affairs.

　　Artistic creation is something akin to a spiritual ritual but one that must pass through the prism of some medium that transforms abstract philosophical concepts into a tangible work. The experiential process of creation, however, involves bring the artist’s own innermost core concepts into play. Zhang Yu is one of the foremost representatives of Chinese experimental ink wash painting. His works reveal distinctly refined, sensitive, honest and succinct qualities. His concise train of thought crosses the traditional and the modern into the realm of contemporary visual culture, massaging out the distinctive nature of his artistic voice along the way.

　　The truly impressive thing about Zhang’s approach has been his unwavering commitment to upholding the paramount spirit of ink wash painting. His artistic explorations have passed through a number of phases, from the charming brushwork of his neo-literati style “Portrait Series” and the inspirationally witty imagery of the “Random Thoughts Collection,” morphing into the abstract inks of the “Divine Light” series and finally refining it into the splendid “Fingerprints” series. Like other artists, Zhang’s works have incrementally progressed through the bottlenecks of a number of developmental stages. With an unshakable belief that there can be no construction without destruction and matchless courage in his relentless march toward progress, from the tangible to the abstract, the conceptual, the spiritual, even to the extent of a perseverance touching upon on the religious, his fresh visual experience has continuously asserted his spiritual convictions.

　　Morphing from ‘Divine Light’ to ‘Fingerprints’

　　The “Divine Light” series (1994-2003) comprises Zhang’s emotional reflections upon confronting his living environment, contemplations of the unfathomable mysteries of the black holes of the cosmos, an elucidation of the startling power of the flow of consciousness in the material world, an exasperated sigh at the course of life into uncharted territory; as a tapestry of artistic dreams, it is also a means of evoking his appreciation of the world.

　　Through the symbolic language of “incomplete circle” and “broken square” and the drawn out suspension through diffused rays of light, the images in the “Divine Light” series seek to present a weighty, suffocating, extremely dark texture via ink while offering a realistic portrayal of the artist’s psychological malaise. But the creative consciousness of the “Divine Light” series does not digress from the scratchy brush strokes that are part and parcel of the expressive technique of brush and ink. To avoid the self-satisfied nature of brush and ink and the emotional appeal inherent in handwriting, Zhang unconditionally abandons the orderliness of brush and ink and tosses aside the realm of the subconscious in favor of the complete embrace of the unfettered free spaces of “Fingerprints.” It seems quite obvious that Zhang’s explorations during his “Divine Light” phase were a natural precursor, a critical turning point in his progression toward another aspect.

　　Zhang began his “Fingerprint” works in 1991 and after shelving and pondering over them for years he again threw himself back into the work with renewed vigor in 2001, perhaps after the natural accumulation and maturation of the required internal energy he was able to continue in this direction. From an experimental art perspective, Zhang’s works are founded on skill and spirit, not only infused with an extremely simplistic aesthetic but even involving issues of “boundaries.” In terms going from the addition to the subtraction of artistic language, the basic is extracted from the complex; it is the stripping away of all flourishes. To nudge the cultural essence toward the core concept and emphasize the artistic awareness of the relationship to the body, the ascetic technique here becomes the key external feature of the “fingerprint,” further reflecting the living radiance of the work.

　　And the “boundary” aspect here refers not merely to its general significance in the human realm, but rather more akin to Zen Master Ching Yuan Wei Hsin’s quote from The Way of Zen: “Before I came to the study of Zen, I saw mountains as mountains and waters as waters; when I acquired a more enlightened knowledge I came to realize that what I saw as mountains were not mountains and as waters were not waters.” Despite the constancy of the creative medium, the technique has changed, resulting in a discrepancy in the aspects of those boundaries; what remains unchanged is a continuity of spirit.

　　Zhang has clearly narrated the so-called “Fingerprints:” “Fingerprint – A red replication of the body – propagated densely across the space via extremely simplistic technique – an unintentional brush with the seeds of eternal life, Eastern philosophical assumptions on the sort of essential breath of life – the political agenda of culture is increasingly evident, a monotone of pedestrian concepts endlessly repeated ad nauseam and ultimately culminating as indicated an nothingness.” According to Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen, “Without understanding the original mind it is futile to study the Dharma,” indicating that despite Hui Neng’s instant enlightenment upon hearing the “Diamond Sutra” of the Fifth Patriarch – “Out of nothingness, develop a pure mind” – he couldn’t imagine the entire complexity of the cosmos itself bound as he was to his own physical self, in terms of substance, intellect and capacity. What has never changed before will change in myriad ways if observed over time. It doesn’t occur that the cosmos themselves are inactive, neither here nor there, yet capable of spawning boundless diversity from the smallest specks of dust to the infinite reaches of the cosmos themselves, and including the multiplicity of the so-called seven emotional states and the six common desires.

　　The entire creative process of the “Fingerprint” works seems as if an homage to some god of austerity. Although the technique is conveyed visually, it in fact transcends the visual to arrive on the other side of a clearly demarcated boundary. By pressing ink-stained finger to paper driven entirely by chance and motion, over and over, back and forth, leaving everything caught in a philosophical limbo, a dreamlike, disjointed point of distraction as the traces of the artist’s life and being leap forth from the paper. Zhang “Fingerprints” point directly toward the original mind notion, expounding upon complex emotions and vivid connotation using a radial visual dot form with a high level of focus touching upon the spiritual realm extending to coalescing into a unified direction. In other words “Fingerprints” touches on the traces one leaves upon time and space and is best not seen as some contemporary spiritual imagery of the Zen path.

　　It is certainly worth mentioning: the ink wash executed yet intangible “Fingerprint” works diverge from the traditional layout in an exhibition context as they are obliquely suspended at 45 degree angles, jutting out into the exhibition space, inviting examination of the entire work as pages in a book. The observer is invited to appreciate the work from all angles; the space for the interpretation of these “Fingerprints” is completely wide open, that is the artist was considerably focused on the relationship between the “fingerprints” and the surrounding space, crafting a significant connectedness between the “fingerprints” and the space and further giving rise to a spiritually uplifting ambiance.

　　Zhang is sensitive to the self-consciousness and expansiveness of space, intimating his innermost self across the delicate yet resilient calligraphy scroll paper, presenting a texture that goes beyond semi-transparency, the simplistic color suggests a previously acquainted texture, the tranquil fingertips gently converging to leave their traces as dots across the surface. Supplanting any semblance of ferocious imagery, the artist’s absolutely personal fingerprint marks become an eternal seed, waiting to impart in the viewer an association of recognition with some living being, drawing out the true spatial and individual cultural identity from amidst the chaos and uncertainty of free life.

　　The Creation and Direction of Artistic Language

　　In his seminal work Creative Evolution, the French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941) pointed out that the basic insight into biological life lie in understanding that the essence of the cosmos is that it is an infinite creator of life, something he terms the “Elan Vita.l” The primary objective of philosophy and metaphysics is to gain an actual understanding of this life imperative. The impetus to life is a sort of free act of creation and given this sort of creative activity the cosmos is then on the path of a constant state of creation, continually evolving, propagating without rest; the cosmos are in an eternal state of change. The creative force brought into play through his artistic original mind is what drives Zhang’s life. Artistic original mind refers to a return to the exploration of the basic essence of creation and creativity; the artist in this case has used his fingerprint as the direct source of his contemplations of the original mind; given such intrinsic self-awareness capabilities this naturally delved right into direct observations on the boundaries of life.

　　Looking from a macro perspective, Zhang Yu’s experimental ink wash works, in terms of form and conceptualization are utterly committed to self-expression and a continual breakthrough of self-awareness, an evidently extreme manifestation of the pursuit of artistic ideal. In his statements regarding employment of Eastern and Western cultural aspects in experimental ink wash, Zhang has particularly emphasized: “Even if I don’t exactly know what experimental ink wash is I’m am at least quite clearly aware of what it isn’t.” This sort of Zen-like conundrum offers a glimpse into Zhang’s mindset of rooting out the new and effecting change.

　　In his “Fingerprints Series,” Zhang dips his fingertips into black or red or sea blue ink and set about indiscriminately scattering fingertip impressions across the calligraphy paper. The densely compacted fingerprint impressions eventually begin to develop into an interwoven, multi-layered miasma of fingerprints resulting in an incomparable visual tension. This free association meditation embodies a sort of unfolding ponderousness, the so-called “the full is empty and the empty is yet full” sort of naturally fluid tenets of Zen thought. Each time the finger is imprinted upon the paper that moment in time becomes an eternal physical mark embodying mind, spirit, body, time and space. Essentially, the creative process behind “Fingerprints” is a sort of behavioral expression, it is a vestige of where space-time and ink intersected and intertwined; the fingerprint conveying in entire body focused through a purely simplistic concept and repetitive action and thus expressing the artist’s creative vision; it could also be seen as an overall expression of an exercise of the artist’s willpower. The original mind of artist Zhang Yu has taken fingerprints and turned them into a kind of artistic writing, an epiphany from the innermost depths of the artist’s living consciousness, nay more a purification of thought, flowing against the grain of the material and sensual, with indomitable spirit in unflagging pursuit of the present cultural progression.

　　At this point in Zhang Yu’s creative development journey, “Fingerprints” becomes the work that has copiously defined him as an artist. Relative to such previous explorations as “Divine Light,” which lasted nearly a decade, this offers a brand new way of turning the traditional significance of ink wash expression on its head. One only wonders how, given that the expressive technique in “Fingerprints” is approaching the limits of its extremes, this artistic language form will adapt and continue on during the course of its natural variations and refinement over time and with changing situations. This will be the great future challenge for Mr. Zhang.

作者：劉永仁