Zhang Yu
1959, Tianjin China
Introduction
Zhang Yu was born in Tianjin, China in 1959 and graduated from the Tianjin Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1988. Throughout his artistic career, he has been engaged with the language of art and experimental ink painting, contributing to and reforming the discursive boundaries of ink art. His early series, Divine Light, became internationally recognised when included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition Ink Art: Past As Present in Contemporary China, in 2013. These abstract paintings from the late 90s and early 2000s reflected the artist's interest in the cosmos, an early step on his journey towards the expression of nothingness. This investigation continued with the "Shang 上" Series (including Water Feeding, Ink Feeding, Filling Tea, and Serving Wine) in which the artist abandoned human contact with the paper altogether. In 2016, Alisan Fine Arts included Zhang's performance piece Imbued with Tea in the group show Is it Ink Art. This piece included a tea ceremony, an installation of porcelain bowls and works on paper.
Of his many famous series, Fingerprints is distinguished for the rupture Zhang Yu made with the brush, transitioning the application of pigment to his index finger and maintaining it as the sole tool of creation. As he explains in the interview reproduced in his 2010 AFA catalogue, the fingerprints method and format allow him the ideal vehicle for exploring the relationship between self-identity, time and existence. Zhang Yu has developed the series across multiple media, from the original works on paper, to video, large-scale installation, innovative combinations such as glass and fingernail polish, interactive public projects, and sculpture. Over the past three years, Zhang Yu has focused largely on "Fingerprints," undertaking large-scale projects in different academic institutions throughout Taiwan, including a socially interactive element whereby thousands of students in Taichung placed their fingerprints upon the university's glass entry doors. "Fingerprints" was featured at the recent major exhibition Post-Brushwork Era at the Guangdong Museum of Art (2018) and previously at the Today Art Museum Beijing 2012 and Art Museum of Rome in 2011.
Zhang's works are collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Chinese Culture Center, San Francisco, USA; Benetton Museum, Venice, Italy; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Chengdu Modern Art Museum, Chengdu, China; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, to name a few. His work is featured in the two-stop travelling show The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China which travels from the Los Angeles County Museum to the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago in 2019.
Of his many famous series, Fingerprints is distinguished for the rupture Zhang Yu made with the brush, transitioning the application of pigment to his index finger and maintaining it as the sole tool of creation. As he explains in the interview reproduced in his 2010 AFA catalogue, the fingerprints method and format allow him the ideal vehicle for exploring the relationship between self-identity, time and existence. Zhang Yu has developed the series across multiple media, from the original works on paper, to video, large-scale installation, innovative combinations such as glass and fingernail polish, interactive public projects, and sculpture. Over the past three years, Zhang Yu has focused largely on "Fingerprints," undertaking large-scale projects in different academic institutions throughout Taiwan, including a socially interactive element whereby thousands of students in Taichung placed their fingerprints upon the university's glass entry doors. "Fingerprints" was featured at the recent major exhibition Post-Brushwork Era at the Guangdong Museum of Art (2018) and previously at the Today Art Museum Beijing 2012 and Art Museum of Rome in 2011.
Zhang's works are collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Chinese Culture Center, San Francisco, USA; Benetton Museum, Venice, Italy; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Chengdu Modern Art Museum, Chengdu, China; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, to name a few. His work is featured in the two-stop travelling show The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China which travels from the Los Angeles County Museum to the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago in 2019.
BIOGRAPHY
1959 Born in Tianjin, China
1979 Admitted to Tianjin Yangliuqing Painting Society
1985 Editorial Director of Tianjin Yangliuqing Fine Arts Press, Senior Editor of World of Chinese Painting
1988 Graduated from Tianjin Fine Arts Academy of Arts and Crafts, Tianjin, China
1991 Senior Editor of Chinese Modern Ink Art
1993 Senior Editor of The Direction of Chinese Modern Ink Art in the late 20th Century series
2002 Associate Professor, Tianjin Transportation Vocational College, Tianjin, China
2004 Guest Professor in the New Media Department, Beijing Film Academy, Beijing, China
2005 Established his studio in Beijing; Used the concept of Feeding Ink to curate China-Ink: Contemporary Experimental Ink Exhibition, Lille, France
2012 Featured in two-part television program Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: Zhang Yu, Travel Channel, Beijing, China
2016 Guest Professor, College of Fine Art, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China
2017 Resident artist, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan
2022 Online Artist Talk: Zhang Yu - The Thoery of My Ink Creation, Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, USA
Present Lives and works in Beijing, China
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022-2023
- Zhang Yu: Doing Art for 30 Years, Inno Art, Hsinchu, Taiwan
2021-22
- Zhang Yu · Me & Beuys: Press and Trigger, HOW Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2019
- Zhang Yu Fingerprints: Boundaries of Time and Truth, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
- Farewell and Leaving: from Wang Wei to Zhang Yu, Art Museum of Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, Xi'an, China
2018
- Mountain Plan 2: Water • Ink • Mountain, Square of Chiu Feng Chia Memorial Hall, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan
- Fabrication: The "Being" of Zhang Yu's Art, Hung Kuang University Art Centre, Taichung, Taiwan
2017
- Meeting Zhang Yu in the East China Sea, Lu Si Yi Church; Tunghai University Art Centre, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan
2016
- Water Feeding, Nanshan Temple, Youguo Temple, Wutai Mountain; Cuiyan Peak, Zhongtai, Quzhou, China
2015
- 2nd Xiaozhou Dynamic Image Project: Behavior and Image Symbiosis, Works by Zhang Yu, Xiaozhou People's Hall, Guangzhou, China
2014
- Zhang Yu: The Form of Notion/Thought, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
- Fundamental: Zhang Yu’s Visual Darwinism, Sanshang Contemporary Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2013
- Cultivation Practice: Exhibition of Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint Works 1991-2013, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea
- Conception and Form: Exhibition of Zhang Yu’s Works, Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery, Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastery, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- Drinking a Toasting at Martell-Ink and Wash, Martell Chateau, Cognac, France
- Fingerprints: Cultivation/Practice: Works by Zhang Yu, Art Stage, Singapore
- Fingerprints: Performance/Red/Water, Sem-Art Gallery, Monte Carlo, Monaco
- Zhang Yu’s Fingerprints, CONTEXT Art Miami, Miami, USA
2011
- Cultivation Practice: Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint works 1991-2011, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2010
- Diffused Fingerprints: Zhang Yu’s Artworks, National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
- Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint Works, Art Asia Miami, Miami, USA
2009
- Fingerprints: Traces of Zhang Yu’s Cultivation Practice, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
- Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint Works, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland
2001
- Zhang Yu: Experimental Ink and Wash, Red Mansion Foundation, London, UK
1992
- Chinese Artist Zhang Yu: Modern Ink and Wash Exhibition, Belyaevo Gallery, State Exhibition Hall, 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 Museum, Tianjin, China
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023-2024
-
Delight in the Invisible: Abstract Narrative of Momentary, Ming Yuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China (exhibition curator and participating artist)
2023
- Tiny Steps-Yuan Art Museum Triennial, Yuan Art Museum-Wuqing, Tianjin, China
-
Kunming Art Biennale: Writing and Boundary, Yunnan Art Museum, Kunming, China
- 7th Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
2022
- Existence & Repetition, Chun Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- Beyond Ink, Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, USA
2021
- Ink Dreams: Selections from the Fondation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
2020
- Brushless, Alisan Fine Arts-Aberdeen, Hong Kong
- Moving, Wuqing Gallery, Yuan Art Museum, Tianjin, China
-
Longing for Nature: Reading Landscapes in Chinese Art, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Switzerland
- Shanghai Waves Historical Archives and Works of Shanghai Biennial, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China
- Ways of Working: Artists' Time, Space and Body, One Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Contemporary Forms of Ink Painting, Art Basel Online Viewing Rooms, Alisan Fine Arts; Alisan Fine Arts-Aberdeen, Hong Kong
2019
- Perception over Limit: The Word of Being and Time, Shanghai Ming Yuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China Travelling Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
- Landscapes: Being Suppressed Nature, Li Yinglu Art Museum, Daejeon, Korea
- Spearhead: International Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Ink Art, Shanghai Ming Yuan Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2018
- Minimalism: Space, Light, Object, ArtScience Museum, Singapore
- INK, Göppingen Art Museum, Göppingen, Germany
- Ink Worlds: Contemporary Chinese Painting from the Collection of Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang, The Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA
- Post-Brushwork Era: Chinese Landscapes, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou; Zhejiang Museum, Hangzhou, China
- 1st International Sculpture Exhibition Pingyao, Pingyao Machinery Factory, Pingyao, China
- Chinese New Ink Painting 1978-2018, Minsheng Modern Art Museum, Beijing, China
2017
- Four Phases of Ink, Manggha Museum, Krakow, Poland
- Works on Paper, TAG The Art Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland
- More Than 10 Feasibilities of Ink, Luxehills Art Museum, Chengdu, China
- Dimensional Space of Paper, Art Museum of School of Fine Arts, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
- A Battle of Wits: 1st Wuhan Ink and Wash Biennale, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan, China
2016
- Is It Ink Art? Works by Liu Jian and Zhang Yu, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
- Cold Light: 1st Anhui Installation Art Exhibition, Hefei Art Centre, Hefei, China
- Being and Inking 2016: Documenting Contemporary Ink Art, Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art, Guangzhou, China
- Variations in Ink, Ink Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
2015
- The Context in Paper: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Columbia College, Chicago, USA
- Termination of Writing: Inoue Yuichi, Lee Ufan, Zhang Yu, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
- All the World’s Futures, 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
- Art London, London, UK
- Writing Non-Writing, Art Museum of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
2014-17
- Open Book: Artists and the Chinese Folding Book, Art Museum of Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Wenzhou Museum of Contemporary Art, Wenzhou, China; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Art Gallery of Connecticut College, New London, CT, USA; Lalit Kala Academy, Jaipur, India
2014
- Chinese Printmaking, Guanlan Printmaking Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
- West Says East Says: Chinese Contemporary Art Research Exhibition, United Art Museum, Wuhan, China
- Art Taipei 2014, Taipei, Taiwan
2013
- New Dimensions in Ink and Wash: 2013 Critics Nomination Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
- Ink and Wash Again: Chinese Contemporary Ink and Wash Art Invitational Exhibition 2000-2012, Today Art Museum, Beijing; Hubei Art Museum, Wuhan, China
- The Original Way: New Concepts in Chinese Contemporary Art, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
- Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
- New Realm: Contemporary Chinese Art, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain
- Ink Files: China and Korea Contemporary Ink, Art Museum of Nanjing Arts Institute, Nanjing, China; Jeju Museum of Modern Art, Jeju, Korea
- Personal Structures, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
- Fine Art Asia, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
2012
- Appreciating the East Exhibition of Classical Chinese Art, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- Ink Painting: International Ink Painting Exhibition, National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
- Shape Without Shape Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, Kunstwerk Karlshütte, Rendsburg/ Büdelsdorf, Germany
2011-12
- Towards Notion: Maximalism in Contrasts, Frick Art Museum, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh; Hillwood Art Gallery, Long Island University, Long Island; Richard E. Peeler Art Center, DePauw University, Greencastle, USA
2011
- Context China/Beyond Spiritual Expression/Easel-work 10+10, Beijing Contemporary Art Museum, Beijing, China
- New Realm: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
- The Great Celestial Abstraction: Chinese Art in the 21st Century, MACRO Testaccio Contemporary Art Museum of Rome, Rome, Italy
2010
- Homeward Bound I Go: 1st Contemporary Painting Exhibition, Pudong International Airport, Shanghai, China
- Memory of the Past: Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting, Morlan Gallery, Transylvania University, Lexington, KY, USA
- Beyond the Horizon: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile
- Writing/Non-Writing: 2010 Hangzhou International Modern Calligraphy Art Exhibition, Art Museum of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
- Refactoring: Chinese Abstract Art Top Exhibition, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou; Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2009-10
- Ink and Not Ink: Chinese Contemporary Ink and Wash Invitational Exhibition, Warsaw Palace Museum, Poland; Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, Budapest, Hungary; Romanian National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania; Gliptoteka HAZU-Sculpture Museum of the Croatian Academy of Science and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia
2009
- Water and Colour, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Site: Exhibition of Contemporary Art, National Hsinchu University of Education Art and Culture Centre, Hsinchu, Taiwan
- 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
- Open Flexibility: Innovative Contemporary Ink Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
- Longitude and Latitude of Time and Space: Chinese Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2008
- Ink and Wash ≠ Ink and Wash Painting: Zhang Yu, Li Huasheng, Liang Quan, Hejingyuan Art Centre, Beijing, China
- Appreciation/Pure Mind: Chinese Contemporary Water Ink Exhibition, Art Centre of Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan
- Yi Pai: 30 Years of “Abstract” Art in China, La Caixa Forum Palma, Barcelona; La Caixa Forum, Madrid, Spain
- Envisage II: Butterfly Dream, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- 6th Shenzhen International Biennale of Ink and Wash, Shenzhen Museum, Shenzhen, China
- Ink-Not-Ink, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, USA; Today Art Museum, Beijing; Shenzhen Museum of Art, Shenzhen, China
2007
- Narration in Ink and Wash, Yokohama Zaim Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
- China Onward: The Estella Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
- 3rd Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu Modern Art Museum, Chengdu, China
- Made in Beijing, Art Gallery of Hongik University, 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, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, 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, Asian Cultural Centre, New York, USA
- Chinese Ink and Wash Documentary Exhibition 1976-2006, Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China
- Chinese Contemporary Art Documentary, New Millennium Monument Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Meditation and Narration: Contemporary Ink Exhibition, Artist Commune, Hong Kong
2005
- Encre de Chine Expérimentale, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris; Palais Rihour, Lille, France
- Salute to '85: 1985-2005, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
- Writing/Non-Writing, Art Museum of the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
- Metaphysics: Black and White - Abstract Art, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- 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
2004
- Irrelevant to Reality! Contemporary Chinese Art, 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, 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, BankART 1929, Yokohama, Japan
- 4th Shenzhen International Biennale of Ink and Wash, Guan Shanyue Art Museum; Shenzhen Art Academy Exhibition Hall, Shenzhen, China
2003
- Impermanence: How to Explain the Term “Ink and Wash," Artist Commune, Hong Kong
- Chinese Art Today, China Millennium Monument Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Exhibition of Chinese Experimental Ink and Wash, Chinese Culture Center of Greater Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2002
- "Ost + West" Ausstellung für die Zeitgenössische Kunsthaus China, Vienna Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria
- Ground Zero: Material Art Invitational Exhibition, Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
- 17th Asian International Art Exhibition, Daejeon Art Museum, Daejeon, Korea
2001
- Metaphysics, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- 32nd Düsseldorf Modern Art Exhibition, Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre, Düsseldorf, Germany
- 20 Years of Experiment in Chinese Ink and Wash, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
2000
- Colour, Brush and Ink: Zhang Yu and Heidi Meyer, German Embassy in China, Beijing, China
- New Chinese Painting, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai; Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing, China
- International Contemporary Art Exchange Exhibition, Jiangsu Art Museum, Nanjing, China
1999
- Survival and Expression, Art Museum of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin, China
- Abstract Colour and Ink, Chinese Cultural Center of San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
- Dialogue 1999, Beijing International Art Palace, Beijing; TEDAContemporary Art Museum, Tianjin, China
- On the Fringe of Ink and Wash: Works on Paper, Hong Kong Visual Art Centre, Hong Kong
- 14th Asian International Art Exhibition, Fukuoka Modern Art Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
1998-2000
- Inside Out: New Chinese Art Exhibition, Asia Society Museum, New York; MoMa PS1, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, USA; Monterey Museum of Contemporary Art, Mexico; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
1998
- Looking Back to Chang'an: Invitational Exhibition of Modern Ink and Wash for Collection, Xi'an Art Museum, Xi'an, China
- 2nd Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- 13th Asian International Art Exhibition, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1997
- Exhibition of New Ink and Wash Art, Berlin Art Museum, Berlin; Halle Museum, Halle; TTT Studios, Heimbach; Leipzig University Museum, Leipzig, Germany
- Stars of the Century: Chinese Art Biennale, Ontario Art Museum, Toronto, Canada
1995
- Ink and Light: Chinese Contemporary Experimental Ink and Wash Group Exhibition, Flanders Expo, Ghent, Belgium
1994
- Zero: Art Exhibition, Flanders Expo, Ghent, Belgium
1993
- Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Abstract Ink and Wash, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
1992
- Publication & Design of Chinese Modern Ink Painting& Traditional Painting, World of Chinese Painting Magazine, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
1991
- 1st International Fan Painting Exhibition, Beijing Concert Hall Gallery, Beijing, China
- 2nd Exhibition of Chinese Meticulous Painting, Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, China
- 1st Chinese Fine Arts Book: Prize-winning Works Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
- 27th Asian Modern Art Exhibition, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1990
- Five Contemporary Painters Exhibition, Contemporary Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Spring Exhibition 1990, Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Painting, Beijing, China
- Chinese New Literati Painting, Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Painting, Beijing, China
- Ge Shan Painting Competition: Prize-winning Works Exhibition, Ge Shan Art House, Taipei, Taiwan; Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore
1989
- Exhibition of Chinese New Literati Painting, Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Painting, Beijing China
1988
- 1st Exhibition of Chinese Meticulous Painting, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
- 3rd Tianjin Painting Exhibition by Young Artists, Youth Palace, Tianjin, China
1987
- Drawings of New Ink Art, Daqian Gallery, Beijing, China
1986
- New Composition of Chinese Art, National Museum of Singapore, Orchard Gallery, Singapore
1981
- Tianjin Youth Artworks Exhibition, Tianjin Mass Art Centre, Tianjin, China
SELECTED AWARDS
2018 Focus of the Year, National Fine Arts Golden Star Award, Shanghai, China
2017 Power List of Chinese Art in 2016, Nanfeng People Weekly, Guangzhou, China
2013 Focus of the Year, National Fine Arts Golden Star Award, Shanghai, China
2012 AAC Arts China: Artist of the Year (Ink and Wash category), Forbidden City, Beijing, China
2004 Fu Baoshi Award: Ink and Wash Painting Medium Nanjing Triennial (second prize), Nanjing, China
1992 Prize of Excellence, Publication Design of Eight Provinces of the North East, Beijing, China; Second Prize, Design & Edit of Chinese Modern Ink Painting, World of Chinese Painting Magazine, Beijing, China
1991 Bronze Prize, 1st Chinese Fine Arts Book Awards, Beijing, China; Excellent Fine Arts Book Awards, Ge Shan Painting Competition, Beijing, China
1990 Second Prize (category: cover design), Awards of Publication Graphic Design of Eight Provinces in the North East, Taiyuan, China
1988 Third Prize in Top Ten, Tianjin Third Youth Art Festival, Tianjin, China
SELECTED PROJECTS
2014
- Fingerprints: Blue & White Porcelain with Martell, LA Art Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, USA
- Commitment: Zhang Yu, Hundreds of Fingerprints, State Nuclear Electric Power Planning Design and Research Institute, Beijing, China
2013
- Fingerprints: Blue & White Porcelain with Martell, Cultural Project of Martell Cognac, Hong Kong, Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
- Zhang Yu's Fingerprints and the Vacheron Constantin artist / East Meets West with Zhang Yu, Taipei 101, Taiwan
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
USA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Estella Collection, New York
Chinese Culture Centre, San Francisco
Europe
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium
University of Louvain Museum, Louvain, Belgium
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
Red Mansion Foundation, London, England
Benetton Museum, Venice, Italy
Belyaevo Gallery, State Exhibition Hall, Moscow, Russia
Olenska Foundation Art Museum, Geneva, Switzerland
China
National Art Museum of China, Beijing
Chengdu Museum of Modern Art, Chengdu
Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou
Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai
