Supple Strokes Spawn Sublimity

Text by Huang Zhong Photos by Liu Zhongcan

The strokes say it all.Yu Xiaofeng dips his fingers into an inkwell and lets them roam nimbly on the page,twirling like a dragon in flight swirling through the clouds.His lithe touch flits flirtatiously over the papyrus-like paper,and in a matter of moments,a speedy sketch with assumedly arbitrary patterns juxtaposed helter-shelter forms into the perfect likeness of Wintersweet shrubs.As it gets close to its completion,branches and twigs,plums,and magpies of jaw-dropping realism jump right off the page.

Finger painting,also known by other monikers such as finger drawing and finger inking,is a singular painting style with a longstanding tradition that uses fingers dipped in ink to paint in lieu of a brush.According to records,finger drawing began in the Tang Dynasty,and today there is only a handful of individuals practicing the art,Pan Tianshou,Quan Songyan,and Yu Yifeng are among its leading exponents.

Yu Xiaofeng’s Artwork 虞小風(fēng)作品

提手演示，只見(jiàn)虞小風(fēng)掌指蘸墨，掌走游龍、指點(diǎn)勾勒，不到幾分鐘，一幅指畫(huà)臘梅圖幾近完成，枝椏、紅梅、喜鵲栩栩如生，躍然紙上。

指畫(huà)，又稱指頭畫(huà)、手指畫(huà)、指墨畫(huà)等，是中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)繪畫(huà)中的一種特殊畫(huà)法，以手代筆，蘸墨作畫(huà)。據(jù)載，指畫(huà)起于唐代,如今從事指畫(huà)的已不多，潘天壽、錢(qián)松喦、虞一風(fēng)等是指畫(huà)的代表。

1949年出生的虞小風(fēng)師承其父——著名指畫(huà)大師虞一風(fēng)衣缽，8 歲開(kāi)始學(xué)畫(huà)，潛心指畫(huà)創(chuàng)作和研究數(shù)十載，最終自成一體?！笆戤?huà)鷹，十年畫(huà)荷，十年畫(huà)山水。”在位于武漢市江夏廟山的虞一風(fēng)指畫(huà)館內(nèi)，只見(jiàn)他畫(huà)的雄鷹搏擊長(zhǎng)空、渾厚古樸、大氣磅礴；他畫(huà)的秋荷，掛著蓮蓬，傲立蒼穹，出淤不染；他畫(huà)的山水則風(fēng)骨暗藏、韻味悠長(zhǎng)。“鷹代表著入世的拼搏精神，荷代表著出世的淡泊情懷，山水則現(xiàn)文人的中庸之道?！庇菪★L(fēng)說(shuō)。

在虞小風(fēng)看來(lái)，指畫(huà)與筆畫(huà)相比，用指頭、指尖、指背甚至掌紋作畫(huà)，其線條與筆畫(huà)有明顯不同。其最大的特點(diǎn)是“甲肉半間”，即指畫(huà)蘸墨畫(huà)時(shí)會(huì)產(chǎn)生“雙勾”效果，指甲和肉之間的空處會(huì)留白，指頭點(diǎn)染則會(huì)產(chǎn)生半實(shí)半虛的羅紋，“虛實(shí)之間格外有韻味和美感”?！拔铱偨Y(jié)手指畫(huà)的魅力在于：殘缺古拙的金剛之味，力透紙背的陽(yáng)剛之氣，直抒胸臆的率真之美。”虞小風(fēng)說(shuō)。

祖籍浙江寧波的虞小風(fēng)，2000年客居江夏，創(chuàng)建“江夏畫(huà)派中國(guó)畫(huà)研究院”。為什么將基地選在江夏？虞小風(fēng)說(shuō)，江夏是中國(guó)指畫(huà)發(fā)源地，明代山水人物畫(huà)家吳偉就是江夏人，是吳偉創(chuàng)建了“江夏畫(huà)派”。

作為中國(guó)手指畫(huà)研究會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)，以及當(dāng)代為數(shù)不多的有影響力的指畫(huà)傳人，72 歲的虞小風(fēng)除潛心創(chuàng)作外，一直在為挽救這門(mén)瀕臨失傳的中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)藝術(shù)而奔走。多年來(lái)，他自駕在全國(guó)100 余個(gè)城市傳播指畫(huà)，行程達(dá)20 萬(wàn)公里。

Born in 1949,Yu Xiaofeng studied under the tutelage of his father,renowned finger-painting master Yu Yifeng,from whom he picked up the torch of the craft of finger inking.At the age of eight he began learning art,in which he was wholly absorbed.He has been researching the subject for decades before finally developing his own mature style.“For a decade I painted eagles; for a decade I painted lotuses; for a decade I painted landscapes.” At his gallery located in Miaoshan in Wuhan’s Jiangxia District,one can feast their eyes on the majesty of his creations,such as a bald eagle hunting in mid air—simple and honest,yet striking and dynamic.His painting of winter lotus depicts a lotus seedpod drooping,the stem standing tall and proud to the heavens,rooted in unadulterated silt.His personal style subtly subdued behind the lines and between the lines,yet the image exudes a punchy pluck that whispers its witchery across the soft stillness.“The eagle symbolizes the struggles we face as we make our way in the world; the lotus symbolizes withdrawing from the rat race in favor of a simple existence; the landscape embodies the philosophy of moderation espoused by the modern educated elite,” expressed Yu Xiaofeng.

Enjoying clay teapots in his spare time 閑暇時(shí)喜歡玩紫砂壺

In Yu Xiaofeng’s eyes,finger painting and brush painting stand in contrast,finger drawing uses the fingers,the fingertips,the backs of the fingers,and even the palms to make art.The lines and strokes are distinctly different.Its greatest distinguishing feature is a rendering technique that involves“part finger,part fingernail,”producing a “hollow stroke” effect.The area between the finger and fingernail is empty and leaves a white space,the fingertips ink a pattern that is part full,part empty,which makes the piece all the more“aesthetically appealing.” Xiaofeng asserted,“I can only say the appeal of finger painting is in its powerful sense of crude fragmentation that gives is a penetrating energy,and a candid and unreserved radiance.”

Since 2000,Yu Xiaofeng,a native of Ningbo,Zhejiang Province,has been living in Jiangxia,Wuhan where he founded the Jiangxia Chinese Painting Research Institute.Why did he choose Jiangxia as his base of operations? Yu Xiaofeng remarked that Jiangxia was the birthplace of Chinese finger painting,and Wu Wei,a Ming Dynasty landscape painter and founder of the Jiangxia Finger Painting Academy,was a native of Jiangxia.

As the president of the Chinese Finger Painting Research Association and one of the few influential heirs of finger painting in the modern era,the 72-year-old Yu Xiaofeng has been working hard to save this traditional Chinese art that is on the verge of being lost forever.Over the years,he has driven to more than 100 cities across the country to promote finger painting,traveling a total distance of 200,000 kilometers in a concerted effort and labor of love to pass the torch of finger painting onto a new generation who live and breathe the art.

(Translation:Chase Coulson)

Finger painting 手指作畫(huà)

Demonstrating finger drawing at the Hubei Museum of Art在湖北美術(shù)館展示指畫(huà)

Taking care of his yard 打理自家庭院