Ni Youyu’s works often display the intersection between historical and contemporary ideas, with the core value to achieve unity between man and nature. His “Waterfall & Rockfall” demonstrate the traditional Chinese ink painting technique heavily influenced by the artistic practices of the Song (960–1279) and Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368). Ni applies pressurized water to wash away layers of acrylic paint, a unique technique that he developed for almost 3 years, and repeats this process several times, controllable and uncontrollable at the same time, to ultimately achieve a surface that appears eroded by time. Meanwhile “flowing water” is originally an image that symbolizes “time” and “history” in Oriental philosophy. To some extent, the texture achieved by this technique is alike the ancient paintings, on which hundreds of years of weathering left mottled and fragmented marks. While looking closely, however, the painting reveals an Expressionism type of visual language and structure; one might also feel the impact from the making process.
倪有鱼的创作持续以历史与当代思想的互动为命题。宋元两代对传统中国水墨画技法的影响,以至道法自然的思想内涵,皆在《瀑布与暴布》中表露无遗。画作采用艺术家历时近三年摸索而成的特殊技艺,在丙烯颜料未干透时,使用不同压力的水进行冲洗,可控又不可控,既实际又象征式地在画布上留下岁月洪流的“痕迹”,且“流水”在东方哲学里原本就有“时间”和“历史”的意象。这种手段制作出的画面肌理从某种角度看很像古典绘画因为几百年历史自然风化所形成的斑驳破碎的痕迹,而近看完全是表现主义的语言和结构,甚至可以感受到创作过程中的暴力性。