Overview

Zhang Yu is known for pushing the boundaries of ink, experimenting with the medium in ways that blend abstraction, durational performance, and embodied practice. Moving beyond traditional ink painting, he has pursued a new form of conceptual ink art over his fifty-year career, establishing himself as a revolutionary and disruptor of the medium.

 

The works featured in Zhang Yu: Ink Reconstructed” are mainly two-dimensional pieces divided into three series: minimalist, abstract ink paintings from the mid-1980s; the experimental ink “Divine Light” series from the 1990s; and the ongoing “Fingerprints” series from the early 21st century, which is based on fingerprinting processes. Despite their diversity, all these works share common materials—Xuan paper and ink—symbolizing the artist’s enduring spiritual quest. Zhang challenges and deconstructs the art historical canon, developing a new approach to art rooted in both Eastern and Western artistic traditions. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view works from the Divine Light series, as Zhang no longer consigns this collection to galleries. 

Installation Views
Works
  • ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2013. 5-1, 2013
    ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2013. 5-1, 2013
  • ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2014. 7-1, 2014
    ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2014. 7-1, 2014
  • ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2014. 7-2, 2014
    ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2014. 7-2, 2014
  • ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2014. 9-1, 2014
    ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2014. 9-1, 2014
  • ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2015. 6-1, 2015
    ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2015. 6-1, 2015
  • ZHANG Yu, 8746, 1987
    ZHANG Yu, 8746, 1987
  • ZHANG Yu, 8807, 1988
    ZHANG Yu, 8807, 1988
  • ZHANG Yu, 8809, 1988
    ZHANG Yu, 8809, 1988
  • ZHANG Yu, Divine Light Series No. 15: Floating Incomplete Circle, 1995
    ZHANG Yu, Divine Light Series No. 15: Floating Incomplete Circle, 1995
  • ZHANG Yu, Divine Light Series No. 71: Floating Incomplete Rectangle, 2001
    ZHANG Yu, Divine Light Series No. 71: Floating Incomplete Rectangle, 2001
  • ZHANG Yu, Divine Light Series No. 87: Floating Incomplete Rectangle, 2004
    ZHANG Yu, Divine Light Series No. 87: Floating Incomplete Rectangle, 2004
  • ZHANG Yu, Divine Light Series No. 90: Floating Incomplete Circle, 2004
    ZHANG Yu, Divine Light Series No. 90: Floating Incomplete Circle, 2004
  • ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2012. 4-2, 2012
    ZHANG Yu, Fingerprints 2012. 4-2, 2012
  • ZHANG Yu, Views of Water, 2022
    ZHANG Yu, Views of Water, 2022