Artist Creates Immense Art with Fingerprints

After two decades and thousands of fingerprints, Zhang Yu's 'Fingerprint Series' has expanded into a collection of paintings, installations, performances, and books. The series represents Zhang Yu's understanding of reality and of the world, and fingerprinting represents his attitude towards life.

His method is simple: he dips his right thumb into red, white, or black ink, and presses it repeatedly onto rice paper. The effect, however, is an incredible sense of an infinitive pattern, created by the overlapping thumb prints.

Regarded as a pioneer of Chinese experimental ink painting, Zhang Yu's works do not reveal a specific image to the viewer. Instead, they emphasise the methodical and meditative process with which they are created, making one feel quite small and insignificant in comparison.