Zhang Yingnan

Born in 1981 in Shaanxi, China, Zhang Yingnan graduated from Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts in 2005 and now lives and works in Beijing. Zhang Yingnan’s paintings are both realistic and surreal: in terms of painting technique, his works are rich in the subtlety and elegance of classical paintings, with strict and simple compositions; however, in terms of content, they are often full of strange ideas, giving a dream-like texture to familiar and ordinary spaces, and constructing imaginative temporal and spatial relationships on the canvas. Under the artist’s restrained and quiet use of colors, these “impossible” situations always carry a slight undertone of sadness and loneliness; for Zhang Yingnan, the loss that pervades his paintings comes from his perception of human relationships. The experience of growing up in a country compound as a child contrasts greatly with what he sees and feels when he studies and works in the city as an adult: the closeness of neighborly life becomes indifference and alienation when people get along with each other in the city. The empty and lonesome spaces in the paintings point to the lost past, and symbolize the emptiness of contemporary people’s spiritual and psychological state, as well as an imaginary place for the artist to put his thoughts, emotions and memories.

1981  Born in Baoji, Shaanxi Province
2018  Graduated with BA , Oil Painting Department of Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts
Now works and lives in Beijing

Solo Exhibitions
2024  If Unhindered, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China;
Melting, KÖNIG GALERIE, Seoul, Korea;
2022  Film, Soka Art Center, Beijing, China;
2019  Golden Express, Soka Art Center, Beijing, China;
2018  Faraway, Soka Art Center, Taipei, China;
2014  The Forgotten Temperature, Gallery Skape, Seoul, Korea;
2012 A merciless expression, ARTMIA, Beijing, China;

Group Exhibitions
2024  The shape of perception, Iris Art Museum, Suzhou, China;
2023  Bordercrossing: Possibilities and Interactions, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China;
Silouette of Splendors, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China;
Annular Vacuum Chamber, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China;
2022  Boundless, Aurora Museum, Shanghai, China;
2021  Futurism of the past: Contemplating the past and Future in Chiese Contemporary Art, Beijing Exhibition Center, Beijing, China;
2019  Motional and motionless: Youjin and Zhang Yingnan, AYE Gallery, Beijing, China;
Open Islands, Tang Contemporary Art, Bangkok, Thailand;
2017  Three Artists：Zhang Yingnan, Mitsuhiro IKEDA, Wang Ting Yu, Soka Art Center, Beijing, China;
2016  A Ride to Combine, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China;
Elite Yong Artists Program 2016, Right View Museum, Beijing, China;
Heterotopia Space, Linda Gallery, Beijing, China;
2015  Stop Makingsense, Chi K11 Art Museum, Shanghai, China;
2014  Ruins·Landscape, Halcyon Gallery, Shanghai, China;
Landscape of Mind: A group exhibition of young Chinese Artists, ARTMIA, Beijing, China;
2011  Red Yingru, Season Gallery, Beijng, China;
Living, ARTMIA, Beijing, China;

Public Collections
Wooran Foundation, Seoul
Longlati Foundation, Shanghai
He Art Museum, Shunde
Whale Art Museum, Singapore
Forbes China, China
White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney