Press Release - Sem Art

SEM-ART GALLERY & DA XIANG ART SPACE
FINGERPRINTS
ZHANG YU’S WORK
JUNE 8 - JULY 20, 2012
Press release
20, avenue de la Costa
98000 MONACO
Tel. : +377 97 70 50 70
Fax : +377 97 70 50 77
info@sem-art.mc
www.sem-art.mc

SEM-ART GALLERY & DA XIANG ART SPACE
A catalogue has been edited for the exhibition
"Zhang Yu - Fingerprints" - Introduction text by Iain Robertson.
For futher information, please contact SEM-ART gallery.
20, avenue de la Costa
98000 MONACO
Tel. : +377 97 70 50 70
Fax : +377 97 70 50 77
info@sem-art.mc
www.sem-art.mc
2

FINGERPRINTS
ZHANG YU’S WORK
The road that Zhang Yu has taken in search of his true self has many demands. It is
a pilgrim’s progress that encounters life’s distractions and temptations; pleasures
and disappointments, but maintains its true course.
Iain Robertson
Zhang Yu has been inclined to intentionally
avoid applying traditional ink and wash
skills in his experimental Chinese ink and
wash works. Despite his solid academic trainings
in his early years, the artist would rather abandon
the tradition of texture strokes than be viewed
as a stereotype or a plagiarist. Instead of blindly
following advocates of “Ink Renaissance,” Zhang has
his unique way of thinking by unmasking the sublime
but untrue “Ink Myth” and by challenging himself
with unconventional ways of creating. Viewing
Zhang’s evolution of creation through different
stages - from Fan Painting series (1986-1989)
to Portrait series (1989-1992), we find two main
changes. First, the context where the characters are
located is changing, from complicated background
to nearly vacant space. Second, the images of the
characters are gradually deconstructed, turning
less and less concrete, and become more abstract
symbols. Broken and incomplete faces in Zhang’s
paintings have given us viewers plenty of space for
imagination and they seem to invite us to go near
to investigate them in depth. The above-mentioned
changes not only indicate transference of the subject
matters from the external to the internal, but also
reflect the artist’s inner transformation.
In Zhang’s Divine Light series (1994-2003), he
adopted subversive ways to reinterpret traditional
wash and ink. No strokes but ink can be seen in this
series. His “incomplete circles,” “broken squares,”
and “shattered pieces” symbolize the chaos of the
beginning of the earth. Unspeakably mysterious
scenes immediately draw the viewers’ attention.
Floating shattered pieces that layer one another
represents the artist’s million thoughts in his mind.
Zhang’s uniqueness is once again pervading in his
paintings.
Daily News series (2001-2003) is Zhang’s next
stage of creation, which is yet transient. The artist
juxtaposes ready-made stuff such as newspaper with
wash and ink by collaging them. While the shattered
pieces in the Divine Light series appear here to
contrast with the social reality of the newspaper,
some tension is created between hollowness and
fullness.
While creating the Fingerprint series (1991, 2001-
2008), Zhang seems to be an ascetic monk by
repeatedly pressing millions of fingerprints, which
symbolize engagements in big commitments,
to represent the psychological impact by those
Zhang’s art is the physical embodiment of his journey
towards nothingness.
Iain Robertson
20, avenue de la Costa
98000 MONACO
Tel. : +377 97 70 50 70
Fax : +377 97 70 50 77
info@sem-art.mc
www.sem-art.mc
3

FINGERPRINTS
ZHANG YU’S WORK
The artist’s great scroll, itself the traditional vehicle for landscape brush painting,
is an essential, reductive homage to this great tradition
Iain Robertson
commitments. Zhang aims to let millions of
overlapping red fingerprints on the rice paper create
some unique visual effect. Also, the artist takes
advantage of the plasticity of the rice paper and the
exertion of fingerprints that form dents and change
the appearance and structure of the rice paper. Thus
the accentuated dents on the paper resemble some
bas-relief work. While changeable light and shadow
creates a series of relief-like images, viewers are
totally captivated by the works themselves when
the original meaning of the fingerprints fades away,
if not vanishes. But what is subtle is that the degree
of captivation will be stronger if the viewers have
learned the original meaning and the motive of
creation from the verbal interpretation by the artist.
relevant to commitments, and limits the three colors
he adopts—red, white and black—in tiny differential
shades on one hand. But, on the other hand, the size
of paper has a wider variety. Zhang even has a long
vertical painting hanging from high above, which not
only best captures the viewers’ attention but gives
them the impression of timelessness that long scroll
paintings usually imply. In sum, Zhang’s Fingerprint
series is a work of profundity and a masterpiece that
offers a perspective outside the box.
ChingHsin Chung
Moreover, with practice of Zen and ceaseless
efforts on refining his artistry, Zhang has brought
the experimental Chinese ink and wash to a new
stage. His Fingerprint series can be seen not only
as a rebellion to the traditional ink and wash, but
as a revolt against the fundamental concept of
painting. Behind his defiant acts, Zhang has a
tremendously big dream - exploring the origin of
art. To fulfill it, he diminishes the tension on the form
by simplifying colors. He bonds all color features
20, avenue de la Costa
98000 MONACO
Tel. : +377 97 70 50 70
Fax : +377 97 70 50 77
info@sem-art.mc
www.sem-art.mc
Zhang’s work does, in common with all serious Chinese
artists today, acknowledge and engage with landscape.
Landscape art in the grand Chinese literati tradition after
all demands that the artist ingest and take upon himself the
essence of the mountain, which becomes a metaphor for
all of nature. Zhang is particularly well-equipped so to do
because the way he has chosen is intensely, pragmatically
a (Buddhist) path to enlightenment.
Iain Robertson
4

FINGERPRINTS
ZHANG YU’S WORK
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2011-9.3, 2011
68 x 68 cm
Xuan paper, water
5

FINGERPRINTS
ZHANG YU’S WORK
JUNE 8 - JULY 20, 2012
List of exhibited works
20, avenue de la Costa
98000 MONACO
Tel. : +377 97 70 50 70
Fax : +377 97 70 50 77
info@sem-art.mc
www.sem-art.mc
6

FINGERPRINTS
ZHANG YU’S WORK
JUNE 8 - JULY 20, 2012
List of exhibited works
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2011.11-2, 2011
46 x 46 cm
Xuan paper, Plant pigment
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2008.12-1, 2008
47 x 73 cm
Xuan paper, Plant pigment
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2005.11-2009 - 7-12, 2009
125 x 125 cm
Xuan paper, Plant pigment
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2010.3-1, 2010
75 x 75 cm
Xuan paper, Plant pigment
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2010.6-1, 2010
124 x 86 cm
Xuan paper, Plant pigment
7

FINGERPRINTS
ZHANG YU’S WORK
JUNE 8 - JULY 20, 2012
List of exhibited works
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2011-7.1, 2011
136 x 68 cm
Xuan paper, Plant pigment
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2011-9.3, 2011
68 x 68 cm
Xuan paper, Longjing Spring Water
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2005.5-1, 2005
200 x 100 cm
Xuan paper, Plant pigment
ZHANG YU
fINGERPRINTS-2010.11-1, 2010
99 x 90 cm
Xuan paper, Longjing Spring Water
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2011.12-2, 2011
63 x 46 cm
Xuan paper, Longjing Spring Water
8

FINGERPRINTS
ZHANG YU’S WORK
JUNE 8 - JULY 20, 2012
List of exhibited works
ZHANG YU
FINGER PRINT 2011.9-1, 2011
47 x 73 cm
Xuan paper, Longjing Spring Water
ZHANG YU
FINGERPRINTS-2012.1-2, 2012
46 x 46 cm
Xuan paper, Plant pigment
9

Monday to Friday, 9am to 7pm
Saturday, 10am to 6pm
20, avenue de la Costa
98000 MONACO
Tel. : +377 97 70 50 70
Fax : +377 97 70 50 77
info@sem-art.mc
www.sem-art.mc

FINGERPRINTS
ZHANG YU’S WORK
JUNE 8 - JULY 20, 2012
Biography
SEM-ART
N°. 15, Boguan Rd.
North District
Taichung City 404, Taiwan
www.daxiang.com.tw
Tel: +886 4 2208 4288
Fax: +886 4 2208 3188
E-mail: daxiang.art@msa.hinet.net

Zhang Yu (courtesy name Yu Ren , literary name Shi Yu )
1959
Born in Tianjin, China
1979
Admitted to Tianjin Yangliuqing
Painting Society Editorial
Director, Senior Editor of World
of Chinese Painting, Tianjin Yangliuqing
Fine Arts Press
1988
Graduated from Tianjin Fine
Arts Academy of Arts and
Crafts
2002
Associate Professor at Tianjin
Transportation Vocational College
2004
Guest Professor in the New
Media Department, Beijing Film
Academy
2005
Established his studio in Beijing
2006
Moved to Beijing
Presently lives and
works as a professional
artist in Beijing
Lecturing:
1993
Gave lectures at the Royal
Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp,
Antwerp, Belgium
2003
Gave lectures at the Department
of Oriental Arts and the
Department of Design of the
School of Liberal Arts, Nankai
University, Tianjin
2004
Gave lectures at the New Media
Department, Beijing Film Academy,
Beijing
2006
Gave lectures at the Comprehensive
Painting Department,
Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts,
Tianjin
Solo Exhibitions:
2012
Fingerprints: Cultivation/Practice
– Works by Zhang Yu, Art
Stage Singapore
Fingerprints: Performance/
Red/ Water, Sem-Art Gallery,
Monte Carlo, Monaco
2011
Cultivation Practice: Zhang Yu’s
Fingerprint works 1991-2011,
Today Art Museum, Beijing
Fingerprints – Zhang Yu, Sundaram
Tagore Gallery, New York,
NY, USA
2010
Diffused Fingerprints –
Zhang Yu’s Art works, National
Sun Yat-sen Memorial
Hall, Taipei, China
Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint Works,
Art Asia Miami, Miami, FL, USA
2009
Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint Works,
Basel Art Asia, Basel, Switzerland
Fingerprints: Traces of Zhang
Yu’s Cultivation Practice,
Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts,
Taipei, China
Zhang Yu’s “One-Finger Chan”:
Cultural and Spiritual Exploration,
Da Xiang Art Space,
Taichung, China
2008
Fingerprints: Exhibition of
Works by Zhang Yu, Creek Art,
798, Beijing, China
2007
Fingerprints: Zhang Yu, Goedhuis
Contemporary, New York,
NY, USA.
2006
Fingerprints: Zhang Yu, Goedhuis
Contemporary, London, UK
2004
Divine Light: Ink Paintings by
Zhang Yu, Goedhuis Contemporary,
New York, NY, USA
2001
Zhang Yu: Experimental Ink and
Wash, Red Mansion Foundation,
London, UK
1993
Zhang Yu: Fan Painting Exhibition,
Zhuxianxuan Art Gallery,
Hong Kong, China
1992
Chinese Artist Zhang Yu: Modern
Ink and Wash Exhibition,
Belyaevo Modern Art Museum,
Moscow, Russia
1989
Zhang Yu: Fan Painting Exhibition,
Qingdao Workers’ Cultural
Palace, Qingdao, China
1988
Zhang Yu: Exhibition of Ink and
Wash Paintings, Tianjin Art Gallery,
Tianjin, China
Joint Exhibitions:
2012
Towards Notion – Maximalism
in Contrasts, Hillwood Gallery
of Long Island University, Long
Island, NY, USA
Art Space, Taichung, China
Revival of Ink Painting, Hong
Kong Contemporary Art Museum,
798, Beijing, China
Site – Exhibition of Contemporary
Art, Da Xiang Art Space,
Taichung, and National Hsinchu
University of Education Art and
Culture Centre, Hsinchu, China
Gate Gallery, Beijing, China
Narration in Ink and Wash,
Yokohama Zaim Gallery, Yokohama,
Japan
Confluence, Sohan Qadri –
Zhang Yu, Sundaram Tagore
Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Non-Media: Works by Zhang Yu
and Liang Quan, Enjoy Museum
of Art, Beijing, China
2011
Towards Notion – Maximalism
in Contrasts, Frick Art Museum,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh,
PA, USA
Metaphysical Entity, Da xiang
OH! Nirica, la materia incontra
i sogni, Otto Luogo dell’arte,
Firenze, Italy
2010
Towards Notion – Maximalism
in Contrasts, Contrasts Gallery,
Shanghai,China
The End of Ink and Wash Painting!
From Ink and Wash Painting
to Ink and Wash – Exhibition
of Contemporary Art, Da Xiang
Art Space, Taichung, China
2009
The End of Ink and Wash
Painting! Creating One’s Own
Contemporary Art, Red Gate
Gallery, Beijing, China
2008
Ink and Wash Ink and Wash
Painting: Zhang Yu, Li Huasheng,
Liang Quan, HJY (Hejingyuan)
Art Center, Beijing,
China
2007
Traces and Temperament: Contemporary
Art Exhibition, Red
Intangible: Group Exhibition
of Zhang Yu, Liang Quan and
Liu Xuguang, Creek Art, 798,
Beijing, China
2005
Nature: Experimental Ink Painting
Report, Red Gate Gallery,
Beijing, China
Upcoming Ink Painting: Modern
Ink Painting Exhibition, Palais
Rihour, Lille, France
2000

Exhibition of Abstract Colour
and Ink Art, Fang Gallery, Silicon
Valley, CA, USA
1999
Color, Brush and Ink: Zhang
Yu and Heidi Meyer, German
Embassy, Beijing, China
Abstract Colour and Ink,
Chinese Cultural Center of San
Francisco, CA, USA
1997
Exhibition of New Ink and
Wash Art, Berlin Art Museum;
Halle Museum; Galerie TTT,
Heimbach; Leipzig University
Museum, Germany
1996
Homecoming: Chinese
Contemporary Ink and Wash
Group Exhibition, Gallery on
the Rim, World Journal Gallery,
San Francisco, CA, USA
1995
Ink and Light: Chinese Contemporary
Experimental Ink
and Wash Group Exhibition,
Flanders Expo, Ghent, Belgium
1993
Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary
Abstract Ink and Wash,
National Art Museum, Beijing,
China
Six Chinese Modern Ink and
Wash Artists, Rong Bao Zhai,
Beijing, China
1990
Five Contemporary Painters
Exhibition, Contemporary Art
Museum, Beijing, China
Group Exhibition
2012
World of Ink/Contemporary
Art Exhibition, M50 Art District,
Shanghai, China
Appreciating the East: Exhibition
of Classical Chinese Art,
Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai,
China
2012
Ink Painting – International Ink
Painting Exhibition, National
Sun Yat- sen Memorial Hall,
Taipei, China
Shape Without Shape Exhibition
of Chinese Contemporary
Art, Kunstwerk Karlshütte
Rendsburg/Büdelsdorf, Germany
2011
Ink and Wash China, Chinese
and Italian Contemporary Art
Exchange Exhibition, Museo
Rivelli di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea,
Napoli, Galleria
Marino, Rome, Italy
Visible Soul (Likeness Arises
from the Heart/Mind) - 4th
Chinese Abstract Art Exhibition,
PIFO New Art Gallery, Beijing,
China
Writing and Passing – Exhibition
of Abstract Art, ESSE Contemporary
Art Document Research
Institute, 798, Beijing, China
New Realm: Chinese Contemporary
Art Exhibition, National
Gallery of Australia, Canberra,
Australia
The Great Celestial Abstraction:
Chinese Art in the 21th century,
The Katherine E Nash Gallery
and the Department of Art, The
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
U.S.A
The Great Celestial Abstraction:
Chinese Art in the 21th century,
Macro Testaccio Contemporary
Art Museum of Rome, Rome,
Italy
Context China/Beyond Spiritual
Expression/Easel-work 10+10,
Beijing Contemporary Art Museum,
Beijing, China
2010
Ink and Not Ink: Chinese Contemporary
Ink and Wash Exhibition,
Gliptoteka HAZU - Sculpture
Museum of the Croatian
Academy of Science and Arts
Homeward Bound I Go: The
1st Contemporary Painting
Exhibition Pudong International
Airport, Shanghai, China
The Format and Space of Ink
and Wash, Songzhuang East
Zone Art Center, Beijing, China
Beyond the Horizon – Chinese
Contemporary Art Exhibition,
Chilean National Museum of
Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile
Painting/Non-Painting – 2010
Hangzhou International Modern
Calligraphy Art Exhibition,
Hangzhou, China
Memory of the Past: Contemporary
Chinese Ink Painting,
Transylvania University Morlan
Gallery, Lexington, KY, USA
Tracks and Qualitative Change
- 2nd Beijing Film Academy
International New Media Art
Triennial, Beijing Film Academy
No 4 Space Art Museum, Beijing,
China
Refactoring——Chinese Abstract
Art TOP Exhibition, Zhejiang
Art Museum, Hangzhou,
Today Art Museum, Beijing,
China
2009
Water and Color: Contemporary
Ink and Wash Exhibition, Today
Art Museum, Beijing, China
Present-Day Ink and Wash:
2009
Shanghai New Ink and Wash
Exhibition, Zhu Qizhan Art
Museum, Duolun Museum of
Modern Art, Shanghai, China
Yi Pai: Century Thinking, Today
Art Museum, Beijing, China
Ink and Not Ink: Chinese
Contemporary Ink and Wash
Invitational Exhibition, Warsaw
Palace Museum, Poland;
Museum of Hungarian Agriculture
- Magyar Mezogazdasági
Múzeum, Budapest, Hungary;
National Museum of Contemporary
Art, Bucharest Romania
Shanghai International Contemporary
Art Exhibition, Shanghai
Exhibition Center, Shanghai,
China
60th anniversary of the Republic
of China, Contemporary
Art Achievements Exhibition,
Golden Hall, Beijing Hotel, Beijing,
China
Open Flexibility: Innovative
Contemporary Ink Art, Taipei
Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, China
Longitude and Latitude of Time
and Space – Chinese Contemporary
Art Invitational Exhibition,
Shanghai 2010
Art Center, Shanghai, China
2008
Yi Pai: 30 Years of “Abstract”
Art in China, La Caixa Forum
Palma, La Caixa Forum Barcelona,
La Caixa Forum Madrid,
Spain
Individual Case: Artists in Art
History and Art Criticism, SZ Art
Center, 798, Beijing, China
Towards Post-Abstract: Academic
Invitational Exhibition,
PIFO New Art Gallery, Beijing,
China
Art Forum: The Status and the
Prospects of Contemporary
Ink and Wash On Either Side of
the Straits, Da Xiang Art Space,
Taiwan, Arts and Humanities
Centre of Jing-Yi University,
Taichung, China
Shanghai MoCA Envisage II -
Butterfly Dream, MoCA Shanghai,
Shanghai, China
Ink and Not Ink: Chinese Contemporary
Ink and Wash Exhibition,
Shenzhen Art Museum,
Shenzhen, Today Art Museum,
Beijing, China
6th Shenzhen International
Biennale of Ink and Wash, Shenzhen
Museum, Shenzhen, China
2007
Contemporary Context /
Chinese Edition / Contemporary
Art Exhibition, Today Art
Museum, Beijing, China
The Cicada Sheds its Shell: Language
Salvation from Tradition
and Revolution, Square Gallery of
Contemporary Art, Nanjing, China
China Onward: The Estella
Collection of Chinese Contemporary
Art, Louisiana Museum
of Modern Art, Humlebæk,
Denmark
Abstract Narrative Art Exhibition
and Symposium on Modernity
and Abstract Art, YQK Art
Space Central Academy of Fine
Arts, Beijing, China
Lines: Contemporary Chinese
Abstract Art Exhibition, Creek
Art, Shanghai, China
3rd Chengdu Biennale,
Chengdu Modern Art Museum,
Chengdu, China
Made in Beijing, Hongik University
Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Continuation, Variation and Infiltration:
Ink, a Monochromatic
World, Art Museum of Tokyo
National University of Fine Arts
and Music, Tokyo, Japan
The Supplemental History:
Works from the Collection of
GDMOA, Guangdong Museum
of Art, Guangzhou, China
Yi Pai: 30 Years of “Abstract”
Art in China, Wall Art Museum,
Beijing, China
2006

Revival of Ink and Wash: 2006
Shanghai New Ink and Wash
Exhibition, Zhu Qizhan Art
Museum, Duolun Museum of
Modern Art, Shanghai, China
International Modern Ink
Painting Exhibition, Manhattan
Asian Cultural Center, New
York, NY, USA
Crossing: Modes of Contemporary
Ink and Wash, Art Gallery
of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts,
Tianjin, China
Chinese Ink and Wash Documentary
Exhibition 1976-2006,
Nanjing Museum, Nanjing,
China
Chinese Contemporary Art
Documentary, New Millennium
Monument Art Museum, Beijing,
China
2005
Experiences and Consciousness:
Beijing Film University
New Media Art Festival, Beijing
Film University, Beijing, China
Experimental Ink and Wash
Retrospective Exhibition 1985-
2000, Shenzhen Art Academy
Exhibition Hall, Shenzhen, China
Encre de Chine Expérimentale,
Conference at the Cité Internationale
des Arts, Paris, France
Salute to ‘85: 1985-2005,
Shanghai Duolun Museum of
Modern Art, Shanghai, China
Book/Non-Book: Opened
Space and Time of Calligraphy,
Art Museum of the Chinese
Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou,
China
Metaphysics 2005: Black and
White, Shanghai Art Museum,
Shanghai, China
2004
Irrelevant to Reality! Contemporary
Chinese Art Exhibition, Liu
Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai,
China
Dream of the Dragon’s Nation-
Contemporary Art from China,
Irish Museum of Modern Art,
Dublin, Ireland
International Art and Design
Festival, the Seventh Regiment
Armory, New York, NY, USA
Fu Baoshi Prize: Ink and Wash
Painting Nanjing Triennial,
Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing,
China
Yokohama International Film
Festival: Visual Group, Neo-Academicism
of China, Bank Art
1929, Yokohama, Japan
4th Shenzhen International
Biennale of Ink and Wash, Guan
Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen
Art Academy Exhibition
Hall, Shenzhen, China
2003
Chinese Art Today, China Millennium
Monument Art Museum,
Beijing, China
Exhibition of Chinese Experimental
Ink and Wash, Red Gate
Gallery, Beijing, China
2002
17th Asian International Art
Exhibition, Daejeon (Taejon) Art
Museum, Daejeon, Korea
Hong Kong Art Gallery Collection
Exhibition, Hong Kong Art
Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Ground Zero: Material Art Invitational
Exhibition, Art Museum
of Central Academy of Fine
Arts, Beijing, China
«Ost + West» Ausstellung für
die Zeitgenössische Kunst aus
China, Künstlerhaus in Wien,
Vienna, Austria
New Era of Ink and Wash:
Cross-Straits Exchange Exhibition
of Contemporary Ink and
Wash, Jeff Hsu’s Art Gallery,
Taipei, China
2001
‘Dream_01’, Contemporary Chinese
Art, The Atlantis Gallery,
London, UK
32nd Düsseldorf Modern
Art Exhibition, Düsseldorf
Exhibition Centre,
Düsseldorf, Germany
Exhibition of Metaphysical
and Physical, Shanghai Art
Gallery, Shanghai, China
20 Years of Experiment in Chinese
Ink and Wash, Guangdong
Art Museum, Guangzhou, China
16th Asian International Art
Exhibition, Guangdong Art Museum,
Guangzhou, China
Abstract Ink and Wash Invitational
Exhibition, Xi’an International
Exhibition Centre, Xi’an,
China
2000
New Chinese Painting, Liu Haisu
Art Gallery, Shanghai; Jiangsu
Art Museum, Nanjing, China
International Contemporary Art
Exchange Exhibition, Jiangsu
Art Museum, Nanjing, China
Shanghai Art Gallery Collection
Exhibition, Shanghai, China
1999
Exhibition of “Existence” and
“Expression”, Gallery of Tianjin
Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin,
China
14th Asian International Art Exhibition,
Fukuoka Modern Art
Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
Dialogue 1999, Art Gallery of
Beijing International Art Palace,
Beijing, TEDA (Tianjin Economic-Technological
Development
Area) Contemporary Art
Museum, Tianjin, China
At the Edge of Ink and Wash:
Exhibition of Works on Paper,
Hongkong Arts Development
Council/ Visual Arts Space Gallery,
Hong Kong, China
1998
Inside Out: New Chinese Art
Exhibition, P.S.1 Gallery, New
York Modern Art Gallery,
Henry Art Gallery New York,
NY, San Francisco, CA, Seattle,
WA, USA; Monterey Museum
of Contemporary Art, Mexico,
National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra, Australia, Hong
Kong Arts Development Council/
Art Space Museum of Art,
Hong Kong, China.
Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai
Art Museum, Shanghai, China
13th Asian International Art
Exhibition, National Art Gallery,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Looking Back to Chang’an:
Invitational Exhibition of
Modern Ink and Wash for
Collection, Xi’an Art Museum,
Xi’an, China
1997
Grand Exhibition of Chinese
Art, Shanghai Art Museum,
Shanghai, China
Stars of the Century: Chinese
Art Biennale, Ontario Art Museum,
Toronto, Canada
1996
Symposium on Chinese Ink and
Wash: Toward the 21st Century
and Exhibition for Viewing
and Emulating, Art Gallery of
South China Normal University,
Guangzhou, China
1994
Zero: Art Exhibition, Flanders
Exhibition Center, Ghent, Belgium
1992
Invitational Exhibition of
Traditional Chinese Painting,
Research Institute of Traditional
Chinese Painting, Beijing, China
1991
2nd Exhibition of Chinese
Realistic Painting with Fine
Brushwork, Museum of Chinese
History, Beijing, China
1st International Fan Painting
Exhibition, Beijing Concert Hall
Gallery, Beijing, China
Exhibition of Prize-Winning
Works of Ge Shan Painting
Competition, Ge Shan Art Gallery,
Taiwan, China; Empress
Place Museum, Singapore
1990
27th Asian Modern Art Exhibition,
Tokyo-to Art Museum,
Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo,
Japan
Spring Exhibition of 1990,
Research Institute of Traditional
Chinese Painting, Beijing, China
1989
Chinese New Literati Painting,
Research Institute of Traditional
Chinese Painting, Beijing, China
1988
1st Exhibition of Chinese Realistic
Painting with Fine Brushwork,
National Art Museum of
China, Beijing, China
1986
New Construction of Chinese
Painting Exhibition, Hao Zhen
Gallery, Singapore

Exhibition Curator:
2010
The End of Ink and Wash Painting
– Exhibition of Contemporary
Art: From Ink and Wash
Painting to Ink and Wash, Da
Xiang Art Space, Taichung,
China
2009
Site: Contemporary Art Exhibition,
Da Xiang Art Space,
Taichung, China
The End of Ink and Wash
Painting! Creating One’s Own
Contemporary Art, Red Gate
Gallery, Beijing, China
2008
Ink and Wash Ink and Wash
Painting, HJY (Hejingyuan) Art
Gallery, Beijing, China
2007
Traces and Temperament: Contemporary
Art Exhibition, Red
Gate Gallery, Beijing, China
2006
Crossing: Modes of Contemporary
Ink and Wash, Art Gallery
of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts,
Tianjin, China
2005
Nature: Experimental Ink Painting,
Red Gate Gallery, Beijing,
China
Upcoming Ink Painting: Modern
Ink Painting Exhibition, Palais
Rihour, Lille, France
Salute to ‘85: 1985-2005,
Shanghai Duolun Museum of
Modern Art, Shanghai, China
2003
Exhibition of Chinese Experimental
Ink and Wash, Red Gate
Gallery, Beijing, China
1999
Dialogue 1999, Art Gallery of
Beijing International Art Palace,
Beijing, TEDA (Tianjin Economic-Technological
Development
Area)
1996
Symposium on Chinese Ink and
Wash Toward the 21st Century
and Exhibition for Viewing
and Emulating, Art Gallery of
South China Normal University,
Guangzhou, China
1995
Ink and Light: Contemporary
Chinese Abstract Ink and Wash
Exhibition, Flanders Exhibition
Center, Ghent, Belgium
1993
Chinese Contemporary Color
Ink Art Exhibition, National Art
Museum of China, Beijing, China
Six Chinese Modern Ink and
Wash Artists Exhibition, Rong
Bao Zhai, Beijing, China
1991
1st International Fan Painting
Exhibition, Beijing Concert Hall
Gallery, Beijing, China
1990
Group Exhibition of Five Contemporary
Artists, Contemporary
Art Museum, Beijing, China
Personal Publications:
01. Gallery of Chinese Modern
Ink and Wash Personalities
Wang Mengqi and Zhang Yu,
Henan Art Publishing House
1992
02. Chinese Contemporary
Ink and Wash Artist - Zhang
Yu, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing
House 1994
03. ZHANG YU, Tao Water
Art Gallery, W Barnstable/
Provincetown, MA, USA 1999
04. History of Black and
white: Chinese Contemporary
Experimental Ink Painting—
Zhang Yu, Hubei Fine Arts
Publishing House 1999
05. Zhang Yu’s Inspiration
Works, Goedhuis Contemporary
Art Gallery, USA, 2004
06. Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint
Works, Goedhuis Contemporary
Art Gallery, USA, 2007
07. Fingerprints - Zhang Yu
1991— 2008, Hunan Fine Arts
Publishing House 2008
08. Zhang Yu: A Case Study
of a Contemporary Artist
1984—2008, chief editor Yin
Shuangxi, Hunan Fine Arts
Publishing House 2008
09. Fingerprints: Traces
of Zhang Yu’s Cultivation
Practice 2008-2009, Kuandu
Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei,
China, 2009
10. Zhang Yu’s “One-Finger
Chan”: Cultural and Spiritual
Exploration, Da Xiang Art
Space 2009
11. Zhang Yu: From Abstraction
to Essence Image, (chief
editor Liu Xuguang) Henan
University Publishing House,
Henan, China, 2009
12. Zhang Yu--Diffused
Fingerprints, Da Xiang Art
Space, Artist magazine, Taipei,
China, 2010
13. Self-Cultivation – Zhang
Yu Fingerprints 1991-2011,
(chief editor Feng Boyi), Today
Art Museum, China, 2011
14. Fingerprints – Zhang Yu,
Sundaram Tagore Gallery,
New York, NY, Beverly Hills,
CA, USA, Hong Kong, China,
2011
15. Fingerprints, Sem-Art Gallery
Monaco Gallery, Monaco,
2012
Other Publications:
01. Chinese Modern Ink and
Wash Painting, chief editor
Zhang Yu Tianjin Yangliuqing
Fine Art Press 1991
02. Trends in Modern Chinese
Ink and Wash, vol. I chief editor
Zhang Yu, Tianjin Yangliuqing
Fine Art Press 1993
03. Trends in Modern Chinese
Ink and Wash, vol. II chief editor
Zhang Yu, Tianjin Yangliuqing
Fine Art Press 1994
04. Trends in Modern Chinese
Ink and Wash, vol. III chief
editor Zhang Yu, Heilongjiang
Fine Arts Publishing House
1996
05. History of Black and White:
Chinese Contemporary Experimental
Ink Painting 1992-1999,
planned and coordinated by
Zhang Yu, Hubei Fine Arts
Publishing House 1999
06. Trends in Modern Chinese
Ink and Wash, vol. IV chief
editor Zhang Yu, Heilongjiang
Fine Arts Publishing House
2000
07. Chinese Open and Experimental
Ink and Wash, chief
editor Zhang Yu, The Milky
Way Publishing Co Hong Kong
2002
08. Chinese Experimental Ink
and Wash 1993-2003, planned
and coordinated by Zhang Yu,
Heilongjiang Fine Arts Publishing
House 2004 09. Properties:
Report of Experimental
Ink and Wash, chief editor
Zhang Yu, Hubei Fine Arts
Publishing House 2005
10. Upcoming Ink Painting:
Contemporary Experimental
Ink and Wash, chief editor
Zhang Yu, Pacific Press Paris,
France 2005
11. Traces and Temperament,
chief editor Zhang Yu, Hong
Kong Asian Culture Communication
Association 2007
12. Site (끝), chief editor Zhang
Yu, Da Xiang Art Space 2009
13. Back to the Essence – From
Ink Painting to Ink, chief editor
Zhang Yu, Da Xiang Art Space,
Taichung, China 2010

In Art History:
01. Chinese Contemporary
Art Documents 1989-1990,
by Lü Peng, Hunan Fine Arts
Publishing House, 1991
02. ’90s Contemporary Art
China, by Lü Peng, Hunan
Fine Arts Publishing House,
1999
03. A History of Fine Arts in
New China 1949-1999, by
Zou Yuejin, Hunan Fine Arts
Publishing House, 2002
04. Portraits of the 100
Most Influential Artists in
Contemporary Chinese Art,
chief editor Gao Minglu, Hubei
Fine Arts Publishing House,
2005
05. Retrospective of
Experimental Ink and Wash
1985-2000, by Lü Peng,
Hunan Fine Arts Publishing
House, 2005
06. An Art History of
Twentieth-Century China, by
Lü Peng, Peking University
Press, 2006
07. Artists in Art History, by
Lü Peng, Hunan Fine Arts
Publishing House, 2008
08. 60 Years of Chinese Fine
Arts1949- 2009, People’s
Publishing House, 2009
09. 30 Years’ Exploration
of Chinese Contemporary
Art 1979-2009, by Lü Peng,
Hunan Fine Arts Publishing
House 2009
10. Total Modernity and the
Avant- garde in Twentiethcentury
Chinese art, by Gao
Minglu, MIT Press, 2011
11. Art of Modern China, by
Julia F. Andrews and Kuiyi
Shen, University of California
Press, 2011
Main Collectors:
Metropolitian Museum, New
York, U.S.A
Red Mansion Foundation,
London, UK
Guangdong Art Gallery,
Guangzhou, China
Da Xiang Art Space,
Taichung, China
Hong Kong Art Museum,
Hong Kong, China
Benetton Museum, Italy
Belyaevo Modern Modern
Art Museum, Moscow,
Russia
Louisiana Art Museum,
Humlebæk, Denmark
University of Louvain
Museum, Louvain, Belgium
The Estella Collection
Foundation, New York, U.S.A
Shuhua Art Educational
Foundation, San Francisco,
U.S.A
Chinese Culture Center, San
Francisco, U.S.A
Geodhuis Modern Art
Gallery, New York, U.S.A
Jingquan Gallery, Boston,
U.S.A
Fang Gallery, California, U.S.A
Sem Art Gallery, Monte
Carlo, Monaco
Ucity Art Museum of GAFA,
Guangzhou, China
Chengdu Modern Art
Museum, Chengdu, China
TEDA Art Gallery, Tianjin,
China
Howmuseum, Shanghai,
China
Meilun Art Gallery, Changsha,
China
Fine Arts Documents Art
Gallery, Wuhan, Hubei
Yuan Zhaotang Art
Collection Gallery, Shenzhen,
China
Huitai Art Center, Tianjin,
China
Chengwei Ventures LLC
Fundation, Shanghai, China
Sanchuan Gallery, Beijing,
China
Wanlong Enterprise Group,
Xi’an, China
Olenska Foundation
Art Museum, Geneva,
Switzerland
Royal Academy of Fine Arts,
Antwerp, Belgium
National Art Museum of
China, Beijing, China
Shanghai Art Gallery,
Shanghai, China
Rong Bao Zhai, Beijing,
China
Hanmo Art Gallery, Beijing,
China