Spring Plum Blossoms 1977

Huang Yongyu made this image of Spring Plum Blossoms with ink and colour on paper. I can see that he started with some really bold, wet marks for the branches, and then added the little red flowers after. Imagine making this—the way the brush meets the paper, how the ink bleeds and spreads, and how you have to respond to these almost accidental effects. It's like having a conversation with the materials. What might Yongyu have been thinking? Maybe something about the quickness of spring, or the way new life emerges from the old. That kind of play between control and chance is something I’m interested in. How a single brushstroke can communicate so much feeling, intention, or meaning. It's a back-and-forth—a conversation between the artist and the painting—that continues through time, so that we might look at Yongyu’s painting today, and find new inspiration for our own conversations.