Autumn Lotus 1985

Huang Yongyu made this ‘Autumn Lotus’ with ink and colour on paper, and you can really see the dance between control and spontaneity in it. The textures are so alive! Look at the way he's layered the ink, creating these dark, almost brooding shapes for the leaves, then pops of blue and red like little surprises. It’s like he’s not just painting a lotus, but also painting the feeling of a late autumn day. The physicality of the ink is gorgeous. It's thin in some places, allowing the paper to breathe through, and then thick and juicy in others. Take the lotus flower at the center, see how the red bleeds into the green? It feels so immediate, like a thought caught in the act. This work reminds me a bit of Franz Kline, in the way that he let the ink do its thing, embracing the drips and splatters as part of the story. Art is just one long conversation, isn't it? It's not about perfection, but about the messy, beautiful process of trying to capture something real.