Zhang Yu, Fingerprints -2008.9-1, 2008

Ink and wash on xuan paper
45 × 73 cm (visible), 72 × 102 × 7 cm (framed)
Condition: Very good
Artwork located in Taichung, Taiwan.

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Zhang Yu, styled Yuren and known as Shiyu, is a freelance artist and independent curator born in 1959 in Tianjin. He now lives and works in Beijing and is regarded as a leading figure in China’s experimental ink art. His signature work, Fingerprints, is a performative narrative that preserves traces of process and time.

Deeply influenced by Buddhism, Zhang sees his creative practice as a form of spiritual cultivation. His abstract works reflect philosophical inquiry and inner discipline, often striving for simplicity and originality. In early series such as Aura, he used only Xuan paper and monochrome ink. Beginning in the early 1990s, his Fingerprints series further distilled this approach—using just his fingers instead of brushes, and limiting colors to red, black, and white.

Though finger painting has long existed outside the mainstream, Zhang embraced it as a new path for contemporary ink art. In Fingerprints, he repeatedly presses his right index finger onto Xuan paper, leaving thousands of overlapping prints. These marks transform fingerprints from personal identifiers into aesthetic and symbolic expressions. By exploiting the malleability of the paper, he reshapes its surface and structure, leaving tactile impressions that resemble low reliefs—enduring records of his meditative, performative act.

(Photographed in April 2025)