Cranes 1978

Huang Yongyu gave us these Cranes with ink and color on paper, and you can feel the speed of his brush as it darts across the surface. He's not trying to trick you into thinking these are real cranes. He’s showing you how they move, how they gather together. The thing about ink is that it's so immediate. Once it’s down, it’s down. And Yongyu really understands that. Look at how the pale blue washes give the bodies shape, but also a sense of lightness, like they could float away any second. Then you have these sharp, black beaks, like exclamation points that punctuate the whole scene. Each crane has a piercing stare, a single yellow dot for an eye that gives them a lively attitude. Yongyu reminds me a bit of Joan Miró, both capturing a sense of playful simplicity, and hinting at something deeper, something just out of reach. Art is a conversation, after all, and Yongyu is adding his own unique voice.