Zhang Yingnan

Born in 1981 in Shaanxi, China, Zhang Yingnan graduated from the 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

2025 Where Light Dwells，Yi Space,Hang Zhou，China

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

2026 The Discourse of Matter: An Exploration Exhibition on Painting Materials and Language in Painting, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2025 Centre Anywhere, Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China

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