Zhang Yu’s "Water+Ink"

It has been nearly 40 years since the contemporary exploration of Chinese ink painting.Since the 1980 s,under the impact of Western art concepts,traditional Chinese ink painting has undergone a "modernization" and modern ink types such as expressive ink painting,new literati painting,urban ink painting,and experimental ink painting have emerged.In the 21 st century,under the influence of globalization,the perception of ink and wash has been changing with the development of the times,ink and wash has entered the category of modern art,and contemporary Chinese ink and wash art has shown a changing and developing trend.Ink artists need to think about how to discuss ink and wash in the context of modern art so that it can be transformed into new art.This paper takes the artist Zhang Yu as the subject of study.As early as the 1980 s,Zhang Yu made bold innovations in ink painting.After the local modern transformation,in the mid-1990 s,Zhang Yu resolved to break away from the shackles of traditional ink and wash and initiated experimental ink and wash.Through 10 years of experimental ink and wash art practice,Zhang Yu began a new exploration of ink and wash,and the medium was completely opened up so that ink and wash left the single thread of ink painting.Entering the 21 st century,Zhang Yu began to think about the space of expression of the material properties of ink and wash.With the help of acts,installations and videos,ink art practice naturally turned to modern art expression.Zhang Yu’s unrestrained ink and wash leads to the artistic scheme of "water + ink",which is the main line of Zhang Yu’s exploration of 40 years of ink and wash art practice and his thoughts on modern art issues and artistic expression.This paper focuses on Zhang Yu’s "water + ink" in two parts.The first part is an exploration of Zhang Yu’s "water + ink",presenting the process of change in Zhang Yu’s perception of ink and wash in chronological order.The second part is an analysis of Zhang Yu’s "Water+Ink" artworks,in which Zhang Yu’s representative works are selected in chronological order to further demonstrate the changing process of Zhang Yu’s cognition of ink and wash through an analysis of the artist’s artistic expression practices at different periods.At the end of the paper,it is pointed out that Zhang Yu thinks about ink and wash from the origin of ink and wash,breaks through the existing rules and formulas of ink and wash,completely opens up the medium of ink and wash,and gives new vitality to ink and wash,which promotes the transformation of ink and wash and broadens the artistic scope of ink and wash.