专访 | 武汉美术馆策展人荆菲采访当代艺术家张羽——为世界水墨

为世界水墨

2025年11月22日艺术家张羽于武汉美术馆

2025年11月21日艺术家张羽于武汉美术馆/“水墨文章——武汉美术馆当代水墨收藏研究展”现场创作《指印抄书》，武汉美术馆收藏，馆长陈勇劲与艺术家张羽合影

请张老师先谈下您个人从事水墨创作的缘起。

怎么说呢？从事水墨，看似偶然，却也必然。1978年高中毕业，为了回城，恰好报考了天津杨柳青画社。因与马达学过版画，故而画社便安排我专职刻制杨柳青年画的线版和套版。可不幸的是，不久我的右手两个手指受伤了，便无法再刻版，就被分配到复制国画工作室。画社藏有许多文人字画，于是每天工作就是临摹传统书画，这对我后来的水墨创作影响极大。

您很强调个人意识。

是的，面对世界要有个人意识，创作时决不模仿。模仿式的学习前人，对自身绘画而言，是走不进去的。传统水墨画是农耕文明的产物，那时的人来讲毛笔是日常，是生活不可或缺的。那个历史的土壤今天已经没有了。就算拿着同样的毛笔、同样的墨也画不出那种自然的生命状态，画出来的只是个形式。今天的表达在于当代文化的诉求，必然会产生当代的方法。所以，创造有时代精神的作品才是真正的“继承”。

在当时，我明白一点，风格的变化不是水墨的发展，所谓发展是创造语言，语言由方法决定。起初我和大多学画者没什么两样，试着走中西结合的路，传统的笔墨方法与超现实、表现、抽象形式的语言都尝试过，但都不是自己想要走的路。最初的醒悟是对南宋画家牧溪《六柿图》的观看，我把六个柿看成了六个方圆的那一刻，我走出了对水墨画认识的困境。开始萌生了对中西合璧的质疑，我慢慢开始对极简艺术的思考，如何观看渐渐醒悟了我对视觉的思索。从意识支配思维发生了转变，自然而然的就开始思考抽象艺术了。当然，我试过超现实主义，也试过把《六柿图》如何几何化，甚至用铅笔和毛笔的水墨在纸上对话，试图在东西方找到新的关系。极简便是我认为最有效的表达方式，可是80年代末我又突然发觉只要用笔，就逃不出中西那两套传统的模型。

张羽

8501-对话牧溪

宣纸  毛笔  铅笔  水墨  洗衣粉  水粉白色  印泥

1985年

从一个整体世界讲，中西关系能否真正打通，是不断深入认识艺术史进程的根本，当时也是在这两重关系中思考走出绘画困境，而选择“弃笔”的。其实“指印”从1987年就开始尝试了，追问了近二十年才终于彻底觉悟。尤其进入新世纪后，从“弃笔”的《指印》表达反思杜尚现成品《泉》的“去手工”。从“弃笔”的《指印》行为观念到“去手工”现成品《泉》的观念艺术，这对我是根本性的转折。西方从古典艺术到现代艺术，再到当代艺术，其发展脉络很清晰。我们没有经历一个纯粹现代化的现代性洗礼。是改革开放后的三十年将西方一百年来的现代性匆匆忙忙地“恶补”了一遍，而且是现代、后现代、当代与传统混杂的现代性认识，所以有许多问题模糊不清。

您刚才谈到传统绘画，还有西方美术史对您个人创作，先是形式语言的影响，后来走向创造自己的方法。想问一下您对于当代水墨的理解是什么样的？因为，当代水墨涉及很多概念，它跟传统不同，有实验也有抽象，有些人把您归类于实验水墨，或者是抽象水墨。您对于当代水墨在当代艺术中这40年的回顾，您觉得应该是个什么样的位置？以及您在水墨创作中是什么样的创作方式？

这个问题复杂，如今常常提及的“当代水墨”其实不能算作概念，我一直认为它是个不恰当的称谓。我是最早使用这个称谓的，1996年我策划“走向21世纪的中国当代水墨艺术研讨会”用过，当时只是过渡的需要。为什么“当代水墨”不能作为概念呢，是因为它不能指向当代艺术表达。

我们要认清这个过渡阶段，回头看一下这一发展脉络就会明白。八五时期我们用“中国画探索”探讨中国画的推进，此时没有“水墨”这个概念。直到1987年后刘国松与郎绍君的笔墨之争的“革中锋的命”引发了“水墨画”这个词的出现。我是在1988年策划编辑《中国现代水墨画》一书的，思路乃是作为水墨“画种”讨论的。直到1993年我策划编辑的《二十世纪末中国现代水墨艺术走势》丛书的出版，才有意去超越画种的讨论；也是这一年黄专在《广东美术家》杂志编辑了一期“实验水墨画”专辑，黄专在“实验水墨画”专辑中选择的画家，几乎与我1988年编辑的《中国现代水墨画》书中的画家一致，这足以证明黄专的“实验水墨画”仍然是“中国现代水墨画”讨论的指向。故此，我在1995年策划编辑的《当代艺术》丛书第七辑中讨论水墨问题时，特别将“实验水墨画”的“画”字有意删除，以此提出“实验水墨”这一概念。这一动机在于过去“水墨”是“水墨画”，是一个画种，但“实验水墨”之后不再是画种，而是“水墨不等于水墨画”。

《中国现代水墨画》，策划/编辑/张羽

封面题字/张羽，天津杨柳青画社，1988-1991年

Modern Chinese Ink Painting Curated and Edited

by Zhang Yu curated and edited by Zhang Yu

Tianjin Yangliuqing Publishing House,1988–1991

《二十世纪末中国现代水墨艺术走势》丛书第1辑

策划/主编/张羽，天津杨柳青画社，1993年

走向21世纪的中国当代水墨艺术研讨会及作品观摩展

策划/张羽，广州-华南师范大学美术学院，1996年

我提出的问题是，水墨画是无法与当代艺术直接对话的，而“实验水墨”出现的意义就是打通它，是以“实验水墨”作为结束水墨画画种论的一种方法，一场运动。从此瓦解水墨仅作为一种中国画风格的绘画语言的探讨。因此“实验水墨”作为水墨认知的前沿问题，所呈现的表达是综合材料的、行为的、装置的、影像的当代艺术表达。这也是我为什么认为“当代水墨”无法与“当代艺术”对应的原因，“当代水墨”仍然局限于水墨画的画种。而“实验水墨”已然成为“当代艺术中的一种水墨方式”。唯有将水墨视为一种文化媒介，携带在当代艺术表达中，这种中国式的混杂的水墨现代性才能进入世界话题中去讨论。

如果我们总是跟着西方艺术史的艺术方法论，比如：政治波普、玩世现实主义、艳俗艺术走下去，这样的方法永远是跟在人家屁股后面的。而从水墨出发可以创造出与世界关系起来的新的方法，让世界真正看到“中西之上”的当代艺术。这也是我为什么在自己的艺术创作中，要将水墨媒介携带于指印、行为、装置和影像中的用意。

这样就可以通过水墨把传统和当代完美的结合在一起，并且拓展我们所认知的当代艺术概念。

是的，如此我们就可以在一个全球化当代艺术关系中将水墨的文化注入其中，或许可以使从上世纪80年代后当代艺术所遭遇至今的瓶颈状态获得解决。我认为当代艺术的瓶颈主要是现代艺术形式主义带来的理念逼进了死胡同。当然，艺术家在形式追问的惯性下总以为形式可以超越形式。还有杜尚作为当代艺术的转折也是以一种形式替代另一种形式实现的。于此，艺术家们始终没有彻底弄清楚杜尚的现成品艺术是以观念转变的。所以，错误地认为什么都是艺术。艺术没有标准。

这便是我一直要解决的问题，尤其以“指印”开始的表达，就是要跳出这个瓶颈的循环。虽然同样使用宣纸、水墨，但通过观念获得重复按指印的行为将图像“清零”，以此排除掉传统水墨画山水、花鸟，以及人物图像。同时也就清理了艺术史的古典、现代、当代艺术中所有语言形式触及的审美问题。我的意图是以“中西之上”的思维方式批判“中西合璧”带来的虚假变化，解决中西艺术史中共同的发展问题，通过重复，复重复的指印行为方法摁出一片你中有我我中有你，有无同在的空无痕迹，看似抽象却又不是抽象。这一理念我总结了许久，起初我也被自己的行为惊讶了。

深入思考的结论是，唯有水墨可以如此，其它任何媒材都是不可能实现这一理念的。当然，我清楚我呈现这个表达的意图，不是水墨画画种的水墨画，不是抽象绘画的抽象艺术，而是提供一种“指印”行为的当代艺术表达。一种与艺术史完全不同的艺术视角。从这个角度看，我认为武汉美术馆多年来做的水墨当代表达研究展这个事情很有意义。我们的艺术研究机构应该向世界展现我们最前沿的水墨当代艺术表达与研究。

对从事水墨创作的艺术家个体而言，水墨如何成为当代艺术的唯一可能就是走向观念艺术的表达，要超越曾经“水墨”的边界。这是我在推动“实验水墨”的进程中，从开始就是针对抽象绘画进入，最终超越抽象主义绘画问题，起初也包含对材料的试验，但必须经历走出来让“水墨”这个词转化为观念，将这一认知建立在“中西之上”的文化立场。这个思路清楚了，很多问题就通了。

所以，在众多的媒介里，就以我们中国来说，其实，水墨才是最大可能性去与世界发生平等对话的一种媒介。

可以这样理解，但不是简单的媒介议题，而是转向观念与问题，这是最关键的。我们可以审视一下日本和韩国的前卫书法、具体派、物派、单色画，为何均处在世界艺术史中有位置。而我们除了传统文人画，处于近代以前的世界位置。可在现代艺术以来没有位置，这是为什么呢？我们没有经历一个纯粹的现代性洗礼，我们缺失一个现代化的主体性。我们虽然向世界贡献了“中国书写”的古典模型，却没有创造出书写的现代性模型。而日本的前卫书法却为世界提供了书法书写的现代性模型。因此，世界现当代艺术史没有我们的位置。我们今天的审美始终不能超越传统“应物象形”的模型，这与西方古典的再现模仿一致。尽管，黄宾虹实践了“得意忘形”，可本质上却仍然是“应物象形”。无论是山水、花鸟，还是人物画是不可能走向抽象艺术的。于是，文人画的书写笔墨到黄宾虹就结束了。我再想，如果当年黄宾虹走向抽象的书写表达，那么，世界艺术史将可能是另外的样子。

黄宾虹

泛舟图

宣纸  水墨

1950年代

Huang Binhong (1865-1955),art historian and literati painter

Boating Scene

xuan paper  Ink-and-Wash

1950

老栗（栗宪庭）也曾说过：“中国画走向抽象是必然。”可惜，黄宾虹错过了。二战后，日本前卫书法的代表人物井上有一将书法解构成笔道，走向抽象表现主义，在国际舞台备受关注。与名扬世界的美国抽象表现主义相遇。同时，与具体派白发一雄的行动绘画及波洛克的行动绘画共同构成世界主义的书写。从毛笔书写，到油画笔滴洒书写，再到白发一雄的身体书写，这就是我们常说的书写主义对书写的终结。也就是说，从中国式书写到世界性书写，一旦以身体替代了笔，中国式书写就结束了。1962年韩国艺术家白南淮在激浪派艺术节现场即兴创作了行为书写作品《头禅》，以头蘸上番茄汁和墨汁搅在一起的墨，在画布上拖出一条宽阔的长线，这又郑重地向世人宣告毛笔书写方式的结束。日本物派艺术的出场，更是策略性地直入西方当代艺术的语境（现成品艺术、大地艺术、贫穷艺术、极简主义的关系中），日本物派艺术家及学者从不在此处讨论日本美学——物哀与侘寂，而是直接切入西方当代艺术语境。我们应该有所反思。

白南准

以头及头发蘸墨的行为书写

激浪派

1962年激浪派艺术节现场

我为什么要讨论这个问题呢？如果我们将水墨艺术向世界展示，总是强调继承了什么，也就忽略了我们今天创造了什么。我们应该让世界看到我们发展了什么！没有发展，何谈继承。形式上的摹仿、重复，一定是没有意义的。我们必须创造新的认知、新的语言。事实是，我们越是强调传统，越是对传统的消解。研究水墨，是固守，还是面向世界？显然，只有让水墨成为一种当代观念、创造与之一致的新的方法论，才能走向世界。

张羽

指印200804-2

指印行为  宣纸  水

2008年

Zhang Yu

Fingerprintings 200804-2

Fingerprintings behavior

Xuan paper  Water

99x 90cm

2008

所以，您个人更倾向于以世界的眼光来创作。

所谓，中国的崛起与强大，是在世界中当代文化与当代艺术中提供独特的价值。这不是我们自以为如何了，而是让世界看到。其实，我们在世界的经济、科技发展，更需要文化的发展，我们与世界的文化始终都是相互存在的关系。比如从公元4世纪佛学东传，印西佛学和中土道学之间发生的“中西格义”的关系。公元12世纪朱熹继续“中西格义”的讨论，直到五四新文化运动以来“中西合璧”“中西融合”让我们认识了什么？我们应该想一想，或许“中西之上”更有意义于艺术的未来。

以前我们对“中西合璧”，是模仿式的拼接，拿来方法与直接抄袭。这显然值得我们质疑，我们的主体性在哪里？“从中国看世界”，理解和认识世界，再“从世界看中国”，寻找“中西”问题的关系。

张羽

上墨20130418-0526

行为  装置   600只白色瓷碗  水  墨汁 

韩国光州市立美术馆

2013年

在这个议题上，我们需要对日本和韩国有深入的思考。他们在现代性的艺术进程中，某种程度上替东方文化在国际舞台上发声。西方很多对中国文化艺术的了解，是通过日韩传播的，比如铃木大佐在美国讲禅，直接影响了丹托对波普艺术《布里洛盒子》的阐释。

所以，我们需要从世界的视角看中国，不是直接看自己，而是看到日韩与我们一起作为东亚艺术共同体的关系。由此就会更清楚自己。我们要想走得更远就要做出日韩没有意识到的。不是否定他们，而是要理清自己的方向，从根本上提出新的问题、新的方法的当代话语。

前几天开研讨会的时候，有些专家就提到水墨不仅限于在中国，也要寻求像莫士其这样国外做水墨的艺术家。因为，水墨是一种国际化的语言。如果将来我们的馆藏展出进行国外交流，在这样展览的框架下，您个人觉得如何体现水墨的国际性？

我个人觉得水墨的发展，并不是寻找几个国外艺术家用水墨媒介创作了水墨画就是国际化了。不是让他们画我们的传统山水画，关键在于我们要把“水墨”作为一种思想观念的方法论推广出去，获得在世界的共识性的平等对话。“水墨”不是狭隘的材料和形式问题，从水墨出发形成新的当代思想观念，让世界意识到、看到。

张羽

上墨20140712-20191015：对话郭熙(行为与装置)

宣纸  水 墨  亚克力  钢丝  影像

2019年

现在全球化当代艺术已经止步在上个世纪80年代，发展不下去了。所以，我想以“弃笔”的“指印”行为表达提出“过程性艺术”这一概念寻找在世界的可能性，目的是希望指出一个可以当代艺术前行的路线。重点不在于艺术家用不用水墨这个媒介，而在于能否激活和发扬水墨文化的新的表达。东方主义的时间观、空间观、宇宙观。其实，无论什么媒介的艺术作品，只要蕴含这种认识观，才是真正的文化输出。

所以，刚才谈到中国文化元素，中国的文化思想，您觉得哪个是我们文化的内核必须要讨论的？

这是一个整体问题，文化的整体，关联在一起的，是互为存在于世界。它不是那个部分，是互为的补充。

博伊斯也曾说：艺术如要继续存活下去，必须向上看，天上有天使，还要向下看，大地有植物、动物。那么，天地间是人，这就是我们说的“天人合一”。博伊斯对世界的表述很具体，很准确。而我们的画家常常把“天人合一”挂在嘴边，画什么画都套用“天人合一”，反而成了一句空话。就像“什么都是艺术”“人人都是艺术家”，那艺术与艺术家就不存在了。波伊斯“社会雕塑”的本意，是指人人都可以参与改造这个社会。艺术是人类的，水墨文化同样也是人类的。文化是注入我们内心的，不是空谈的概念。知识的积累越是丰富，触碰的问题越深刻，作品的感知力会越强。

我将“弃笔”的“指印”表达理解为体验“肉身我”的真实存在觉知，既是从表达出发的，也是从文化出发的。于此，推导我的方法论，也是我的观念，这是我通过实践认识的。哲学家梅洛∙庞蒂更深入地指出：“世界的问题始于身体的问题”。然而，我们必须要懂得他对“肉身”的追问不替代我的“肉身”追问。我的肉身表达携带着我对东方文化的理解。

张羽

上茶20160319-0430-2普洱茶-五道(行为装置绘画)

宣纸  普洱茶  水

香港艺倡画廊

高名潞、栗宪庭从“极多”“念珠”中看到“劳作”与“修行”，我看到的是“极简”是“重复性”的“过程性”。反复按压的指印是重复，复重复的时间、空间、体验。此刻肉身的觉知，既有中国文化看待时间、空间、肉身、觉知，亦有西方理性及对现象世界的感官、体验、行为。现象世界的肉身往往是指向媒介，但体验的肉身与世界是互为的互相感知。对艺术而言，我按指印的表达，还在于放弃形式结果，强调肉身行为体验的过程性表达，而不是展示肉身。

摁指印，是肉身创造的一个内容，不是肉身被利用。另外，还有一个问题关于我们美术馆收藏，您在世界各地参加很多展览，也被很多国际性的各大美术馆收藏。您在被美术馆收藏的时候，您有一个什么样的个人要求或者个人看法。一个是从美术馆角度，一个是从个人角度，您觉得美术馆应该会有哪些收藏？

对，《指印》是肉身创造的一个非常具体化的表达。它的指向却是多维的。美术馆的收藏对艺术家来说，不论从什么角度讲都是很重要的一件事。对美术馆而言就不一样了，美术馆应该收藏对艺术发展起到积极推进作用的作品，这是美术馆创造的价值。能否是一个好美术馆有两个硬指标：一是推广有学术价值的展览；二是收藏对艺术史有贡献的作艺术品。

比如我们今天谈论的艺术史，从古典、现代到当代，从根本讲我认为有三个最伟大的艺术家：达芬奇、塞尚、杜尚。为什么呢？他们决定了艺术史的发展的三个阶段关键性人物。而其他艺术家都是在他们的框架下，也就是他们的方法论下的扩展。比如立体派、抽象派、野兽派都是塞尚脉络中的延展；如果再去模仿马蒂斯、毕加索、蒙德里安的画家就是重复前人的艺术，就不具有同等的价值。总之，美术馆应该收藏具有创造性的艺术作品。

要梳理出一条具有发展的、有收藏价值线索的线路图，持续收藏下去。水墨这条线索是非常有难度的梳理工作。

所以，下一步您觉得我们在藏品收藏和这个水墨研究方面，应该具体做哪些？

我没有美术馆工作的经验，只是认识上觉得确实要投入研究的精力，不能停于表面。美术馆自身得有专业研究水墨艺术的研究员，也可以邀请美术馆之外的学者共同参与，建构完整的学术性的水墨文献档案。现当代水墨发展已有几十年的历程，有很多工作必须做，现在时机到了，从上世纪80年代至今40余年了，有哪些水墨现象是起到推动作用的，哪些艺术家案例是有学术贡献的，要尽早开始研究。另外，千万不要范范，范范是没有价值的。

张羽

上墨-以水墨实施的一次清洗行动（行为装置）

亚克力箱  现成品报纸  墨汁  水

2019年

上海明圆美术馆“觉知艺术”展实施清洗现场

张羽

被水墨清洗的报纸（行为与装置的绘画）

现成品报纸  墨汁  水

2017-2020年

我一直都在做这一工作，而且对每一个时期都做了整理。从明年起我会开始撰写“实验水墨”一书。重点厘清“实验水墨”是怎样从传统发展出来及与现当代艺术的关系。不只是从中国自身传统，还要放在中西传统对比的视野中审视。比如，从中国传统绘画“应物象形”到“得意忘形”与从古典“再现”的“模仿”到现代艺术的“抽象表现”，当代艺术的观念。

我对“实验水墨”的推动，一直保持着与现有艺术史的提问，从古典、现代、当代，尤其杜尚转折之后，生活与艺术的边界日益被拓宽，甚至瓦解了边界，对当代艺术的理解也越发无从判断。很多人抱怨当代艺术混乱、艺术表达缺乏震撼力。这其实就是对当代艺术的一种误解，那种视觉震撼在古典和现实主义时期已经完成了。视觉震撼不是今天社会的课题。杜尚之后，艺术的表达从视觉“震撼”转向提出“问题”。从“去手工”的现成品到博伊斯的“社会雕塑”，沃霍尔的“波普艺术”都是在不断地提出问题。

张羽

种山计划-水墨山-2020元号（装置雕塑）

天然花岗岩山石25吨  钢板  混凝土  墨汁  水  上水循环系统

2020年

北京元典美术馆

对水墨的研究也一样，水墨本身早就没有问题。问题在于我们看待水墨的方法。如果我们只盯着自己就看不到问题，需要打开视野探寻我们和世界的关系，才能发现人类进程中的问题，这也是当年我为什么提出“走出水墨，进入当代”的思考。后来我陆续通过策展和写作提出一系列概念，比如：“水墨不等于水墨画”“中西之上”“与自然合作”“觉知艺术”，以及针对“得意忘形”提出的“得义无形”，将“意思”的“意”改为“主义”的“义”，将“忘”换为“无”。还有“过程性绘画”“过程性艺术”“自然性绘画”这些概念，都是对应于我们与世界的关系提出的命题、概念与方法论，目的就是把水墨如何放在世界关系中。

非常感谢您。帮我们回顾了一下中国美术史和西方美术史，还有水墨，非常期待您的那本大作。

谢谢！那本书估计得写两三年，工作量很大。努力！

与武汉美术馆工作人员：左起王佳、艺术家张羽、馆长陈勇劲、策展人荆菲、林利，于“水墨文章——武汉美术馆当代水墨收藏研究展”现场合影，2025年

为世界水墨

Please let Teacher Zhang talk first about the origin of your personal engagement in ink wash creation.

It's hard to say... Engaging with ink and wash painting seemed accidental yet inevitable. After graduating from high school in 1978, to return to the city, I happened to apply to the Yangliuqing New Year Picture Studio in Tianjin. Since I had studied woodblock printing with Ma Da, the studio arranged for me to specialize in carving the line blocks and color blocks for Yangliuqing New Year pictures. Unfortunately, shortly after, two fingers on my right hand were injured, making it impossible for me to continue carving. I was then assigned to the Chinese painting reproduction workshop. The studio housed a collection of calligraphy and paintings by literati, so my daily work involved copying traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy. This had a profound influence on my later ink and wash painting creations.

You place a strong emphasis on individual consciousness.

Yes, one can diligently copy in work, but never imitate when creating. Imitative learning from predecessors leaves the soul of one's own painting unable to enter. Traditional ink wash painting is a product of agrarian civilization. For people back then, the brush was a daily tool, an indispensable part of life. That historical soil no longer exists today. Even with the same brush and ink, one cannot recreate that natural state of life; what is produced is merely a form. Today's expression lies in the demands of contemporary culture, which inevitably gives rise to contemporary methods. Therefore, creating works with a spirit of the times is the true 'inheritance'.

张羽

8501-对话牧溪

宣纸  毛笔  铅笔  水墨  洗衣粉  水粉白色  印泥

1985年

At that time, I understood that changes in style are not the development of ink wash painting. So-called development is the creation of language, and language is determined by method. Initially, I was not much different from most art students, trying to take the path of combining Chinese and Western styles. I experimented with traditional brush and ink techniques alongside the languages of surrealism, expressionism, and abstraction, but none of these were the path I wanted to take.My initial awakening came from viewing Mu Xi's 'Six Persimmons' from the Song Dynasty. When I saw the six persimmons as six round squares, I broke free from theof my understanding of ink wash painting. I began to question the idea of combining Chinese and Western styles and gradually turned to thinking about minimal art. How to observe things gradually awakened my thoughts on vision. There was a shift from conscious control to natural thinking, and I began to consider abstract art.Of course, I tried surrealism and experimented with geometrizing 'Six Persimmons', even having dialogues between pencil and ink wash on paper to find new relationships between East and West. Minimalism seemed to me the most effective way of expression, but by the late 1980s, I suddenly realized that as long as I used a brush, I could not escape the two traditional models of East and West.

From the perspective of a holistic world, whether the two layers of East-West relations can truly be integrated is the fundamental issue of continuously deepening the understanding of the history of art. At that time, I was thinking within these two relations to break out of the painting and chose to 'abandon the brush'. In fact, 'fingerprints' began to be experimented with as early as 1987, and after nearly twenty years of inquiry, I finally achieved complete enlightenment. Especially after entering the new century, reflecting on Duchamp's readymade 'Fountain' through the conceptual expression of 'fingerprints' with the 'abandonment of craftsmanship'. From the performative conceptual art of 'fingerprints' with the 'abandonment of the brush' to the 'de-skilled' readymade conceptual art of 'Fountain', this was a fundamental turning point for me. The Western trajectory from classical to modern to contemporary art is very clear. We did not undergo a pure modernization. After the reform and opening up, thirty years were spent hastily 'catching up' with a hundred years of Western modernity, and it was a modernity mixed with modern, postmodern, contemporary, and tradition, leading to many unclear issues.

You just mentioned traditional painting and how Western art history initially influenced your personal creative practice in terms of formal language, and later led you to develop your own methods. I would like to ask what your understanding of contemporary ink wash painting is. Because contemporary ink wash involves many concepts; it differs from tradition, incorporating experimentation and abstraction. Some categorize you as an experimental ink wash artist or an abstract ink wash artist. Regarding the 40-year retrospective of contemporary ink wash within contemporary art, what position do you think it should hold? And what kind of creative approach do you employ in your ink wash works?

This issue is complex. The 'contemporary ink wash' often mentioned nowadays is not actually a concept, and I have always considered it an inappropriate term. I was the first to use this term when I organized the 'Symposium on Chinese Contemporary Ink Wash Art Towards the 21st Century' in 1996; at that time, it was only a transitional need. Why can't 'contemporary ink wash' be a concept? Because it cannot point to contemporary art expression.

《中国现代水墨画》，策划/编辑/张羽

封面题字/张羽，天津杨柳青画社，1988-1991年

Modern Chinese Ink Painting Curated and Edited

by Zhang Yu curated and edited by Zhang Yu

Tianjin Yangliuqing Publishing House,1988–1991

《二十世纪末中国现代水墨艺术走势》丛书第1辑

策划/主编/张羽，天津杨柳青画社，1993年

走向21世纪的中国当代水墨艺术研讨会及作品观摩展

策划/张羽，广州-华南师范大学美术学院，1996年

We need to recognize this transitional phase. By looking back at the development of this trend, we will understand. During the '85 period, we used 'exploration of Chinese painting' to explore the advancement of Chinese painting, and there was no 'ink wash' concept at that time. It was not until after 1987, when Liu Kuo-sung and Lang Shaoguan's debate over brush and ink with 'abolishing the central tip', that the term 'ink wash painting' emerged.I edited the book 'Chinese Modern Ink Wash Painting' in 1988, with the idea of discussing ink wash as a 'painting genre'. It was not until the publication of my edited series 'Trends of Chinese Modern Ink Wash Art at the End of the 20th Century' in 1993 that I intentionally moved beyond discussions of painting genres. In the same year, Huang Zhuan edited an 'Experimental Ink Wash Painting' special issue in the 'Guangdong Artists' magazine. The artists Huang Zhuan selected for this special issue were almost identical to those in my 1988 book 'Chinese Modern Ink Wash Painting', which sufficiently proves that Huang Zhuan's 'Experimental Ink Wash Painting' still pointed to the discussion of 'Chinese Modern Ink Wash Painting'. Therefore, when I discussed ink wash issues in the seventh volume of the 'Contemporary Art' series I edited in 1995, I deliberately deleted the character 'painting' from 'Experimental Ink Wash Painting' to propose the concept of 'Experimental Ink Wash'.The motivation was that in the past, 'ink wash' referred to 'ink wash painting', a painting genre. But after 'Experimental Ink Wash', it is no longer a genre; instead, it is 'ink wash does not equal ink wash painting'.

The question I raise is that ink wash painting cannot directly dialogue with contemporary art, and the significance of 'Experimental Ink Wash' is to bridge this gap. It is a method, a movement, to end the discussion of ink wash painting as a genre, thereby dismantling the exploration of ink wash as merely a style of Chinese painting. Thus, 'Experimental Ink Wash', as a cutting-edge issue in ink wash cognition, presents contemporary art expressions that are comprehensive material-based, performative, installation-based, and image-based. This is why I believe 'contemporary ink wash' cannot correspond to 'contemporary art'—'contemporary ink wash' is still limited to the genre of ink wash painting.Experimental Ink Wash' has already become 'a kind of ink wash approach in contemporary art'. Only by regarding ink wash as a cultural medium, carried within contemporary art expression, can this Chinese hybrid ink wash modernity enter global discourse. If we always follow Western art history methodologies, such as Political Pop, (Wanshi Realism), and Vulgar Art, we will forever be trailing behind. However, starting from ink wash can create new methods that relate to the world, allowing the world to truly see 'contemporary art above East and West'. This is the intention behind incorporating the ink wash medium into my own artistic creations through fingerprints, performance, installation, and Image.

This allows traditional and contemporary elements to be perfectly combined through ink and wash, and to expand our understanding of contemporary art concepts.

Yes, in this way, we can infuse the cultural essence of ink wash realms into a global contemporary art context, potentially resolving the bottleneck state that contemporary art has encountered since the 1980s. I believe the main bottleneck of contemporary art stems from modernist artistic forms pushing ideas into a dead end. Of course, under the inertia of questioning form, artists always assume that form can transcend form. Even Duchamp, as a turning point in contemporary art, achieved this by replacing one form with another. Herein, artists have never thoroughly understood that Duchamp's readymade art was about a conceptual shift. Thus, they mistakenly believe anything can be art, and that art has no standards.

This is the problem I have always aimed to address, particularly through my expressive work starting with 'fingerprints.' The goal is to break free from this cyclical bottleneck. Although using rice paper and ink wash as before, the repetitive act of pressing fingerprints, guided by concept, 'resets' the image, thereby excluding traditional ink wash landscapes, flower-and-bird paintings, and figure imagery. In doing so, it also clears away all aesthetic issues touched upon by language forms in classical, modern, and contemporary art history.

黄宾虹

泛舟图

宣纸  水墨

1950年代

Huang Binhong (1865-1955),art historian and literati painter

Boating Scene

xuan paper  Ink-and-Wash

1950

My intention is to critically examine the false transformations brought by 'Sinicization and Westernization' using a 'beyond East and West' mindset, to resolve common developmental issues in East and West art histories. Through the repetitive, re-repetitive act of pressing fingerprints, I aim to create traces of an interwoven, coexisting emptiness where presence and absence are one—appearing abstract yet not purely abstract. I have reflected on this concept for a long time, and initially, I was even surprised by my own actions.Deep reflection leads me to conclude that only ink wash can achieve this; no other medium can realize this idea. Naturally, I am clear about the intent behind presenting this expression: it is not traditional ink wash painting, nor abstract art as an abstract painting genre, but rather a contemporary art expression of the 'fingerpressing' action for the world. To provide the world with an entirely different artistic perspective from art history. From this angle, I find the Wuhan Art Museum's long-standing research exhibitions on contemporary ink wash expressions very meaningful. Our art research institutions should showcase valuable contemporary ink wash art expressions to the world.

白南准

以头及头发蘸墨的行为书写

激浪派

1962年激浪派艺术节现场

For individual artists engaged in ink wash creation, how ink wash can become the sole possibility for contemporary art lies in moving towards conceptual art, transcending the former boundaries of 'ink wash.' In promoting 'Experimental Ink Wash,' from the outset I used abstract painting as an entry point, ultimately surpassing abstractism. Initially, this included material experimentation, but one must emerge to transform the term 'ink wash' into a concept, establishing this cognition on a 'beyond East and West' cultural stance. Once this line of thinking is clear, many problems become resolved.

So, among various media, taking China as an example, actually, ink wash is the medium with the greatest potential to engage

This understanding shifts not from a singular medium issue but toward a conceptual one, which is the most critical. Let us examine why Japan and South Korea's avant-garde calligraphy, Mono-ha, Specific Art, and monochrome painting occupy positions in world art history, while we, beyond traditional literati painting, held a place in the pre-modern world but not since modern art. Why is this so? We did not undergo a pure modernity洗礼 (baptism), and we lack a modernizing subjectivity. While we contributed the classical model of 'Chinese writing' to the world, we failed to create a modern model of writing. Japanese avant-garde calligraphy, however, provided the world with a modern model of calligraphic writing. Thus, world contemporary art history has no place for us. Our aesthetic today remains stuck within the traditional 'responding to objects and shaping forms' model, aligning with Western classical representation and imitation. Although Huang Binhong practiced 'capturing the spirit and forgetting the form,' it was essentially still 'responding to objects and shaping forms.' Landscape, flower-and-bird, and figure painting could not evolve toward abstract art. Hence, literati painting's writing tradition ended with Huang Binhong. I have often wondered: if Huang Binhong had pursued abstract writing expression back then, world art history might have taken a different course.

张羽

指印200804-2

指印行为  宣纸  水

2008年

Zhang Yu

Fingerprintings 200804-2

Fingerprintings behavior

Xuan paper  Water

99x 90cm

2008

Li Xianting once said, 'Chinese painting moving toward abstraction should be inevitable.' Unfortunately, Huang Binhong missed it, and so did we.After World War II, Japanese avant-garde calligrapher Inoue Yasuda deconstructed calligraphic strokes into abstract expressionism, gaining international attention and intersecting with world-famous American abstract expressionism. Alongside Specific Art's Shiraga Kazuo's action painting and Pollock's action painting, they collectively formed a global (writing-ism) that concluded traditional writing. This means that when the body replaced the brush, Chinese-style writing came to an end. In 1962, Korean artist Pak Namch'ae created the performance piece 'Head Zen' at a Happening festival, using his head dipped in a mixture of tomato juice and ink to drag a broad line across the canvas, solemnly announcing the end of brush writing.The emergence of Japan's Mono-ha art strategically entered the context of Western contemporary art (engaging with ready-made art, land art, poor art, and minimalism). Japanese Mono-ha artists and scholars never discussed Japanese aesthetics—'mono no aware' and 'wabi-sabi'—here but directly (cut into) the Western contemporary art context. We should reflect on this.

Why do I discuss this? If we export ink wash culture to the world, always emphasizing what we inherited, we ignore what we have created today. We should let the world see what we have developed! Without development, how can there be inheritance? Superficial copying and repetition are meaningless. We must create new languages; we cannot sit in our well, and the more we emphasize tradition, the more we dissolve the present.Studying ink wash: should it be rooted in the (native soil) or oriented toward the world? Clearly, today's ink wash can only open up in an international context by making ink wash a concept and creating new methods.

So, personally, you tend to create with a global perspective.

China's rise and strength refer to its rise and strength in the world. It is not about telling the world what China has become, but about allowing the world to see. In fact, our economic, technological, and cultural processes are part of the global process, and our relationship with world culture has always been one of mutual existence. For example, from the transmission of Buddhism to the East in the 4th century, there was the 'Sinification and Westernization' (Zhongxi Geyi) relationship between Indian and Western Buddhism and Chinese Daoism. In the 12th century, Zhu Xi continued the 'Sinification and Westernization' discussion. Since the May Fourth New Culture Movement, concepts like 'Sinification and Westernization' and 'Sinic-Western integration' have made us realize something; perhaps 'beyond Sinic and Western' is the meaning of art's future.

张羽

上墨20130418-0526

行为  装置   600只白色瓷碗  水  墨汁 

韩国光州市立美术馆

2013年

Previously, our approach to 'Sinic-Western integration' was often imitative (pījiē - piecing together) and involved adopting methods or direct plagiarism. This clearly deserves our questioning: where is our subjectivity? 'Viewing the world from China' to understand and recognize it, then 'viewing China from the world' to seek the essence of the 'Sinic-Western' issue—what we have and lack, what the West has and lacks.

On this topic, we need to consider Japan and South Korea. In the process of modern art, they have, to some extent, spoken for Eastern culture on the international stage. Much of the West's understanding of Chinese culture and art comes through Japan and South Korea. For instance, Suzuki Daisuke lecturing on Zen in the United States directly influenced Arthur Danto's proposition of the 'end of art,' using Zen to interpret his Pop Art work 'Brillo Box'.

Therefore, when we view China from the world, it is not a direct look back at ourselves, but seeing Japan and South Korea as part of an East Asian artistic community with us. This will make us clearer about ourselves. To go further, we need to do what Japan and South Korea have not realized. This is not to negate them but to clarify our own lineage and propose new contemporary discourse from the root level.

During the seminar a few days ago, some experts mentioned that ink wash art is not limited to China and should also seek artists like Mo Shiqi who create ink wash art abroad. Because ink wash is an international language. If in the future our collection exhibitions are to be exchanged overseas, within such an exhibition framework, how do you personally think we can embody the international nature of ink wash art?

Personally, I believe the development of ink wash art does not mean internationalization simply by finding a few foreign artists who create ink wash paintings using this medium. It is not about having them paint our traditional landscape paintings; the key lies in promoting 'ink wash' as a methodology of thought and concept to gain globally recognized equal dialogue. 'Ink wash' is not merely a narrow issue of materials and form. What matters is generating new contemporary thoughts and concepts from ink wash, making the world aware and see its significance.

张羽

上墨20140712-20191015：对话郭熙(装置)

宣纸  水 墨  亚克力  钢丝  影像

2019年

Globalized contemporary art has come to a halt in the 1980s and is no longer developing. Therefore, I want to express the concept of 'process-based art' through the 'finger印' action of 'laying down the brush', seeking possibilities for it in the world. The purpose is to point out a path for contemporary art to move forward. The focus is not on whether artists use ink and wash as a medium, but on whether they can activate and promote new expressions of ink and wash culture. The Eastern perspective on time, space, and the universe. In fact, any artistic work, regardless of its medium, is true cultural output as long as it embodies this worldview.

So, regarding Chinese cultural elements and cultural ideas mentioned earlier, which do you think is the core of our culture that must be discussed?

This is an integral issue, the wholeness of culture, interconnected and mutually existing in the world. It is not about parts, but mutual supplementation.

张羽

上茶20160319-0430-2普洱茶-五道(行为装置绘画)

宣纸  普洱茶  水

香港艺倡画廊

Boys once said: For art to continue to survive, it must look upward to the angels in the sky and downward to the plants and animals on the earth. Thus, between heaven and earth is humanity, which is what we refer to as 'the unity of heaven and humanity.' Boys' expression of the world is specific and accurate. However, our painters often hang 'the unity of heaven and humanity' on their lips, applying it to whatever they paint, turning it into an empty phrase. Just as 'everything is art' and 'everyone is an artist,' art and artists cease to exist. The original intention of Boys' 'social sculpture' was that everyone can participate in transforming society. Art is human, and ink culture is also human. Culture is infused into our hearts, not an empty concept. The richer the accumulation of knowledge, the deeper the issues touched, the stronger the perceptiveness of the work will be.

I understand the 'fingerprints' expressed through 'abandoning the brush' as experiencing the authentic sense of existence of the 'embodied self.' This is both from the perspective of expression and from the perspective of culture. From this, I derive my methodology and my concepts, which I have come to know through practice. Philosopher Merleau-Ponty more deeply pointed out: 'The problem of the world begins with the problem of the body.' However, we must understand that his questioning of the 'body' does not replace my questioning of the 'body.' My embodied expression carries my understanding of Eastern culture.

Gao Minglu sees 'extreme multiplicity' as 'repetition' being 'labor,' while I see 'extreme minimalism' as 'repetitiveness' and 'processuality.' The repeatedly pressed fingerprints are repetition, repetition of time, space, and experience. At this moment, the embodied awareness encompasses both how Chinese culture perceives time, space, the body, and awareness, as well as Western rationality and sensory, experiential, and behavioral engagement with the phenomenal world. The embodied aspect of the phenomenal world often points to the medium, but the embodied aspect of experience mutually perceives with the world. For art, my expression of pressing fingerprints lies in abandoning the formal result and emphasizing the processual expression of embodied behavioral experience, rather than displaying the body itself.

Pressing fingerprints is a creation of the flesh, not the flesh being exploited. Additionally, there is another question regarding our art museum's collection. You have participated in many exhibitions around the world and have been collected by numerous major international museums. When your works are collected by museums, what personal requirements or views do you have? From both the museum's perspective and your personal perspective, what do you think museums should collect?

Yes, 'Fingerprints' is a very concrete expression created by human beings. Yet its implications are multi-dimensional. For artists, the collection of artworks by museums is an important matter from any perspective. For museums, however, it is different; museums should collect works that actively promote the development of art, which is the value they create. Whether a museum is good can be measured by two hard indicators: one is to promote exhibitions with academic value; the other is to collect artworks that contribute to art history.

张羽

上墨-以水墨实施的一次清洗行动（行为装置）

亚克力箱  现成品报纸  墨汁  水

2019年

上海明圆美术馆“觉知艺术”展实施清洗现场

张羽

被水墨清洗的报纸（行为与装置的绘画）

现成品报纸  墨汁  水

2017-2020年

For example, the art history we discuss today, from classical to modern and contemporary, fundamentally has three greatest artists in my view: Leonardo da Vinci, Paul Cézanne, and Marcel Duchamp. Why? Because they determined three stages of development and the direction of art history. All other artists have expanded within their frameworks, that is, under their methodologies. For instance, Cubism, Abstract Art, and Fauvism are extensions within Cézanne's lineage. Painters who merely imitate Matisse, Picasso, or Mondrian are repeating the art of their predecessors and thus lack equivalent value.

In short, museums should collect creative artworks. They need to (sort out) a roadmap of collection-worthy clues and continue collecting. Sorting out the ink wash painting line as a clue of collection value is a very challenging task.

So, what specific steps do you think we should take next regarding our collection of artifacts and this ink wash painting research?

I have no experience working in art museums, but I feel that one must indeed invest research efforts and not stop at the surface. Art museums themselves need professional researchers specializing in ink wash art, and they can also invite scholars outside the museum to participate together in constructing a complete academic ink wash literature archive. The development of contemporary ink wash art has spanned several decades, and there is much work that must be done. Now is the time, as it has been over 40 years since the 1980s. We need to identify which ink wash phenomena have been driving forces and which artists have made academic contributions, and start researching this as soon as possible. Additionally, never be superficial or perfunctory—superficial work has no value.

I have been engaged in this work all along and have organized each period. Starting from the end of December this year, I will begin writing a book on 'Experimental Ink Painting'. The focus will be on clarifying how 'Experimental Ink Painting' has grown out of tradition and its relationship with contemporary art. This examination will not only draw from China's own traditional context but also place it within a comparative perspective of Eastern and Western traditions. For example, from the traditional Chinese painting concept of 'responding to objects and depicting their forms' ('yingwu xiangxing') to 'capturing the essence and forgetting the form' ('deyi wangxing'), and from the classical 'representation' and 'mimicry' to modern art's 'abstract expression' and contemporary artistic concepts.

张羽

种山计划-水墨山-2020元号（装置雕塑）

天然花岗岩山石25吨  钢板  混凝土  墨汁  水  上水循环系统

2020年

北京元典美术馆

My promotion of 'Experimental Ink Painting' has always maintained dialogue with existing art history, spanning classical, modern, and contemporary art, especially after Duchamp's pivotal shift, where the boundaries between life and art have become increasingly blurred and even dissolved, making understanding of contemporary art more challenging. Many people complain that contemporary art is chaotic and lacks impactful artistic expression. This is actually a misunderstanding of contemporary art; that visual impact was already achieved in the classical and realist periods. Visual is not the topic of today's society. After Duchamp, artistic expression shifted from visual ' to posing 'questions'. From the 'readymade' of 'de-skilling' to Joseph Beuys' 'social sculpture' and Warhol's 'Pop Art', all continuously pose questions.

The study of ink painting is the same. Ink painting itself has long had no inherent problems. The issue lies in how we perceive ink painting. If we only focus on ourselves, we cannot see the problems; we need to broaden our horizons to explore our relationship with the world in order to discover issues within the course of human development. This was the thinking behind my proposal of 'Getting Out of Ink Painting and Entering Contemporary Art' back then. Later, through curating and writing, I put forward a series of concepts, such as: 'Ink is not equal to ink painting', 'Beyond East and West', 'Collaborating with Nature', 'Consciousness Art', and for 'deyi wangxing', 'deyi wuxing' (replacing '意' meaning 'idea' with '义' meaning 'doctrine' and '忘' with '无' meaning 'without'). Concepts like 'Processual Painting', 'Processual Art', and 'Naturalistic Painting' are all methodological approaches corresponding to our relationship with the world, aiming to place ink painting within the context of global relations.

Thank you very much. You helped us review the history of Chinese art and Western art, as well as ink wash painting. We are really looking forward to your magnum opus.

Thank you! That book is estimated to take two or three years to write; the workload is quite large. Keep up the good work!

与武汉美术馆工作人员：左起王佳、艺术家张羽、馆长陈勇劲、策展人荆菲、林利，于“水墨文章——武汉美术馆当代水墨收藏研究展”现场合影，2025年

■关 于 被 采 访 人

张羽｜Zhang Yu

当代艺术家、独立策展人

Zhang Yu

Contemporary Artist, Independent Curator            

张羽（字郁人 /号石雨）：当代艺术家、独立策展人、艺术批评、资深编辑。生于中国天津市。现生活、工作于北京。

张羽自20世纪80年代创办并主持编辑《国画世界-中国画探索》丛刊、《中国现代水墨画》；90年代策划、创办并主编《二十世纪末中国现代水墨艺术走势》丛书、《黑白史：中国当代实验水墨》丛书、《开放的实验水墨》丛刊，其不仅是中国实验水墨的创办者和推动者，更是中国实验水墨最为重要的艺术家。

曾创作了在国际上具有广泛影响的《灵光》《指印》《点苔》《入泥的肉身》《上墨》《上茶》《上水》等系列作品。涉及绘画、雕塑、装置、行为、实验电影等领域。成为中国当代艺术中从水墨出发的领军人物，被视为中国当代艺术中的标志性人物。

著有：《张羽1984-1994》《ZHANG YU》《指印-张羽1991，2001-2008》《张羽：一位当代艺术家的个案研究》《指印：张羽修行的痕迹》《迷漫的指印》《修-行》《张羽封存的指印》《ZHANG YU Fingerprints》《张羽修-行》《意念的形式》《艺术，做我自己》《张羽：意念的形式》《张羽：水墨的现代主义终结》《基本原理：张羽视觉进化论》《张羽新竹上茶》《上水》《被误会的实验水墨》《觉知艺术》《后实验水墨：我们如何创造艺术》等。

作品曾先后应邀在美国纽约大都会博物馆、P.S.1当代艺术中心、旧金山亚洲艺术博物馆、西雅图亨利美术馆、芝加哥斯玛特美术馆、西雅图艺术博物馆、洛杉矶郡立美术馆、塞勒姆市迪美博物馆、斯坦福大学Cantor艺术中心、长岛大学希尔伍德美术馆、匹兹堡大学弗里克美术馆、绿堡Depauw大学美术馆；墨西哥蒙特里当代美术馆、英国伦敦亚特兰蒂斯美术馆、沙奇画廊、意大利罗马当代艺术馆；法国里尔瑞月宫美术馆；瑞士雷特博尔格博物馆、爱尔兰当代美术馆；西班牙帕尔马美术馆、巴塞罗那美术馆、马德里美术馆、孔德杜克中心；德国柏林博物馆、莱彼锡大学博物馆、格平艮市立美术馆；奥地利维也纳艺术家之家；丹麦路易斯安那现代美术馆；智利国家美术馆；波兰华沙王宫美术馆、克拉科夫国立Manggha博物馆；俄罗斯比纳耶乌现代美术馆、海参崴美术馆；澳大利亚国家艺术博物馆；罗马尼亚国家现代艺术博物馆；日本东京都美术馆、东京艺术大学美术馆、上野森美术馆、福冈亚洲美术馆、横滨当代艺术馆；韩国首尔弘益大学美术馆、光州市立美术馆、大田美术馆、李应鲁美术馆；新加坡国家美术馆；马来西亚国家美术馆；台北市立美术馆、关渡美术馆；香港艺术馆、中国美术馆、上海美术馆、广东美术馆、北京民生现代美术馆、昊美术馆的群展及个展。

有近百件作品被美国纽约大都会博物馆，洛杉矶郡立美术馆，哈佛大学，比利时鲁汶大学，俄罗斯比纳耶乌现代美术馆，香港艺术馆，中国美术馆，上海美术馆，广东美术馆，昊美术馆等国内外多家美术馆、博物馆、艺术机构收藏。

Zhang Yu (Zhang Yu Ren / Shi Yu): contemporary artist, independent curator, art critic, senior editor.

Born in Tianjin, China. Now lives and works in Beijing.

Zhang Yu is not only the founder and promoter of Chinese experimental ink painting, but also the most important artist of Chinese experimental ink painting, since he founded and edited the series of Chinese Painting World - Exploration of Chinese Painting and Chinese Modern Ink Painting in the 1980s, and the series of Chinese Modern Ink Painting at the End of the Twentieth Century, the series of Black and White History: Chinese Contemporary Experimental Ink Painting and the series of Open Experimental Ink Painting in the 1990s, Zhang Yu is one of the most important artists of Chinese experimental ink painting. He is not only the founder and promoter of Chinese experimental ink and wash, but also the most important artist of Chinese experimental ink and wash.

He has created a series of works with wide influence in the international arena, such as “Aura”, “Fingerprints”, “Dot Moss”, “Flesh in the Mud”, “Ink”, “Tea”, “Water”, etc. He has been involved in painting, sculpture, installation and performance. Involving painting, sculpture, installation, performance, experimental film and other fields. He has become a leading figure in Chinese contemporary art starting from ink and is regarded as an iconic figure in Chinese contemporary art.

His works include: “Zhang Yu 1984-1994”, “ZHANG YU”, “Fingerprints - Zhang Yu 1991, 2001-2008”, “Zhang Yu: A Case Study of a Contemporary Artist”, “Fingerprints: Traces of Zhang Yu's Cultivation”, “Fingerprints of Diffusion”, “Cultivation”, “Fingerprints of Zhang Yu”, “Zhang Yu Cultivation”, “Forms of Intention”, “Art, Being Myself”, “Art, Being Myself”, “Fingerprints of Zhang Yu”, and “Fingerprints of Zhang Yu”, “Zhang Yu Cultivation”. Art, Be Myself”, ‘Zhang Yu: Forms of Ideas’, ‘Zhang Yu: The End of Modernism in Ink and Wash’, ‘Fundamentals: Zhang Yu's Theory of Visual Evolution’, ‘Zhang Yu's New Bamboo on Tea’, ‘Upper Water’, ‘Experimental Ink and Wash Misunderstood’, ‘The Art of Awareness’, and ‘Post-Experimental Ink and Wash: How We Create Art’, etc. His works have been invited to New York City, USA, and to the United States.

His works have been invited to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Henry Art Museum, Seattle, Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, Seattle Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Dime Museum, Salem, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Hillwood Museum of Art, Long Island University, and the Frick Art Museum, University of Pittsburgh, Depauw University Museum of Art, Greenburgh; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Mexico; Atlantis, London, UK; The Sharkey Gallery, Rome, Italy; Musée du Lune, Lille, France; Musée du Rethybourg, Switzerland; Museum of Contemporary Irish Art, Ireland; Museo de Arte de Palma, Spain; Museo de Arte de Barcelona, Spain; Museo de Arte de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Museum of Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany; University Museum of Leipzig, Germany; Museo de Arte, Gepingen, Germany University Museum, Leipzig, Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, Göppingen, Germany; Artists' House, Vienna, Austria; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; National Museum of Fine Arts, Chile; Royal Palace Museum of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland, National Manggha Museum, Krakow, Poland; Museum of Contemporary Art, Vladivostok, Russia, Pinajevo, Russia; National Museum of Fine Arts, Australia; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Romania, Japan; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo University of the Arts, Ueno Mori Art Museum, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Yokohama Museum of Contemporary Art; Hongik University Museum of Art, Gwangju City Museum of Art, Daejeon Museum of Art, Lee Eung-ru Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea; National Art Museum of Singapore; National Art Museum of Malaysia; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts; Hong Kong Museum of Art, National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Museum of Fine Arts, Guangdong Museum of Fine Arts, Minsheng Art Museum, Hao Art Museum, Beijing. Group and solo exhibitions at Beijing Minsheng Art Museum and Hao Art Museum.

Nearly one hundred works have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Harvard University, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Binaue, Russia, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the National Art Museum of China, the Shanghai Art Museum, the Guangdong Museum of Art, the Hao Art Museum, and other galleries, museums, and art organizations at home and abroad.

Fundamentals: the Visual Evolution of Zhang Yu

■关 于 采 访 人

荆菲｜Jing Fei 

青年策展人

Jing Fei

Young Curator                                              

荆菲：青年策展人

荆菲，武汉美术馆青年策展人，专注当代水墨与本土艺术研究，深耕策展与公共美育领域。

教育背景

美术学相关专业硕士，师从鲁虹；2008年以研究生身份参与武汉美术馆新馆开馆筹备工作。

工作经历

2008年至今：任职于武汉美术馆，从助理岗位成长为核心策展人，主导多项馆藏研究与品牌展览。

核心策展项目

1. 《艺术之城——金城银行的前世今生（1930-2020）》（2020）：入选2019年文化和旅游部全国美术馆青年策展人扶持计划，以武汉美术馆原建筑为线索，融合艺术与历史呈现城市变迁。

2. 《水墨文章——武汉美术馆藏当代水墨研究展（第九回）》（2025）：入围2025年全国美术馆馆藏精品展出季，梳理馆藏当代水墨，设“生生不息”“多元实验”“绵延开放”三单元。

3. 《艺术笔记：聂干因、朱振庚、钟孺乾水墨人物的画语文心》（2021）：文旅部馆藏精品展出季项目，呈现三位艺术家作品与文献。

学术与活动

• 2025年8月，主持“策展与未来”座谈二：策展与公众美育（下）。

• 长期参与武汉美术馆“水墨文章”品牌项目，为核心成员与见证者。

Jing Fei is a young curator at the Wuhan Art Museum, specializing in research on contemporary ink painting and local art, with deep expertise in curation and public aesthetic education.

Education Background

Master's degree in Fine Arts-related field, mentored by Lu Hong; participated in the preparation work for the opening of the new building of Wuhan Art Museum as a postgraduate student in 2008.

Work Experience

From 2008 to present: Employed at Wuhan Art Museum, growing from an assistant position to a core curator, leading multiple collection research and brand exhibitions.

Core Curation Projects

1. "Art City: The Past and Present of Jin Cheng Bank (1930-2020)" (2020): Selected for the 2019 National Youth Curator Support Program of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It traces the original building of Wuhan Art Museum, integrating art and history to present urban transformation.

2. "Ink Essays: The Ninth Exhibition of Wuhan Art Museum Collection Contemporary Ink Painting Research" (2025): Shortlisted for the 2025 National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season. Its the museum's collection of contemporary ink paintings, featuring three sections: "Endless Vitality," "Diverse Experiments," and "Continuous Openness.

3. "Art Notes: The Brushwork and Artistic Spirit of Watercolor Figures by Nie Gan Yin, Zhu Zhenggeng, and Zhong Ruqian" (2021): A project under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Collection Exhibition Season, presenting works and documents of the three artists.

Academic and Activities

• In August 2025, hosted the second session of the "Curation and the Future" symposium: Curation and Public Aesthetic Education (Part II).

• Long-term participant in Wuhan Art Museum's "Ink Essays" brand project, serving as a core member and witness.

编辑出版：郁子 x ©创造艺术 ©独立品格

 

鳴謝上海瑞巨數字科技有限公司合作

SELECTED

精｜选｜推｜送