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 虞小風作品

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

指畫，又稱指頭畫、手指畫、指墨畫等，是中國傳統繪畫中的一種特殊畫法，以手代筆，蘸墨作畫。據載，指畫起于唐代,如今從事指畫的已不多，潘天壽、錢松喦、虞一風等是指畫的代表。

1949年出生的虞小風師承其父——著名指畫大師虞一風衣缽，8 歲開始學畫，潛心指畫創作和研究數十載，最終自成一體。“十年畫鷹，十年畫荷，十年畫山水。”在位于武漢市江夏廟山的虞一風指畫館內，只見他畫的雄鷹搏擊長空、渾厚古樸、大氣磅礴；他畫的秋荷，掛著蓮蓬，傲立蒼穹，出淤不染；他畫的山水則風骨暗藏、韻味悠長。“鷹代表著入世的拼搏精神，荷代表著出世的淡泊情懷，山水則現文人的中庸之道。”虞小風說。

在虞小風看來，指畫與筆畫相比，用指頭、指尖、指背甚至掌紋作畫，其線條與筆畫有明顯不同。其最大的特點是“甲肉半間”，即指畫蘸墨畫時會產生“雙勾”效果，指甲和肉之間的空處會留白，指頭點染則會產生半實半虛的羅紋，“虛實之間格外有韻味和美感”。“我總結手指畫的魅力在于：殘缺古拙的金剛之味，力透紙背的陽剛之氣，直抒胸臆的率真之美。”虞小風說。

祖籍浙江寧波的虞小風，2000年客居江夏，創建“江夏畫派中國畫研究院”。為什么將基地選在江夏？虞小風說，江夏是中國指畫發源地，明代山水人物畫家吳偉就是江夏人，是吳偉創建了“江夏畫派”。

作為中國手指畫研究會會長，以及當代為數不多的有影響力的指畫傳人，72 歲的虞小風除潛心創作外，一直在為挽救這門瀕臨失傳的中國傳統藝術而奔走。多年來，他自駕在全國100 余個城市傳播指畫，行程達20 萬公里。

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

Demonstrating finger drawing at the Hubei Museum of Art在湖北美術館展示指畫

Taking care of his yard 打理自家庭院