Traces of Time: Interview with Zhang Yu

Born in Tianjin in 1959, Zhang Yu is among the pioneers of contemporary Chinese ink art. He began his career in traditional Chinese painting during the earliest years of China’s reform period, eventually departing from the rigid rules of ink and brush, and testing the boundaries of the genre. Moving beyond works on paper, he later started developing performance-installations that incorporated his body and time-based change. For instance, at his recent Tea Feeding performance at Art Basel Hong Kong, he poured tea into 30 cups, allowing the beverage to overflow and leave flowering patterns on the xuan paper beneath. On the occasion of his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, at Alisan Fine Arts, Zhang spoke with ArtAsiaPacific about the post-Cultural Revolution development of ink art, his interpretations of the genre, and how art should reflect human nature.