Born in 1979 in Shaanxi, China, Zhang Yirong grew up in an environment filled with extraordinary historical sites. Included among these places were the many Buddhist and Daoist monasteries for which her father and grandfather, both artists, created devotional murals and statues. Immersed in this rich artistic and cultural lineage, Zhang began learning the techniques of classical Chinese painting from an early age, a formative experience that laid the foundation for her subsequent mastery of ink. To this day, it remains a distinctive hallmark of her artistic style.
The majority of Zhang’s works are ink drawings, an intricate style perfected by the painting masters of the Song and Yuan dynasties. Their influence is readily apparent in her paintings, which depict flowers and other plants in exquisite detail. Deftly rendered by Zhang’s careful hand, these delicate still lifes “reveal [a] deeper connection to the universe that brings inner peace to the viewer.” It is this spiritual pursuit of the Dao that animates Zhang’s painting practice. As a manifestation of spiritual transformation, painting brings ethics and aesthetics together and offers a way to seek a higher truth that begins in the body. Said Zhang, “the core of traditional Chinese drawing is spirituality, which provides the inner meaning of this art form.”
Zhang’s paintings are often accompanied by passages from Classical Chinese texts on Buddhist and Daoist philosophies. Elegantly inscribed by artist and calligrapher Tai Xiangzhou—Zhang’s frequent collaborator and life partner— the pairing of flora and calligraphy invites the viewer to contemplate the beauty of nature and pursue moral and spiritual cultivation through it.
Zhang’s fine art practice continues her family’s legacy as master artists of devotional works. In 2017, she was invited to create a large ink drawing for the restoration of a Northern Song Dynasty mural at Xing Hua Temple in Gaoping, Shanxi, the last surviving mural in China dating to the eleventh century. Additionally, Zhang’s works can be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
1979 |
Born in Shaanxi |
Recevieved training in classical ink panting at a young age from father, Zhang Xiubiao |
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2001 |
BA from Communication University of China, Beijing, China |
2008 |
MA from Peking University |
Present |
Lives in Beijing |
Selected Exhibitions
2022 |
She/Her/Hers: Women in the Arts of China,Harn Museum of Art, |
University of Florida,USA |
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2021 |
Ink Dreams ,Selections from the Fondation INK Collection, |
Los Angekes County Museum of Art, USA |
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2020 |
Dreaming Together: New-York Historical Society and Asia Society, |
New York, USA |
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ART021 SHANGHAI, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong |
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2019 | Song ceramics and Paintings, Art Institute of Chicago, USA |
Buddha and Flower, GAWA Gallery, New York, USA |
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Woman+Ink/China+Hongkong ,Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong |
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2018 | Flower and Butterfly, GAWA Gallery, New York, USA |
2017 |
Buddha and Flower, U Space,SuZhou, China |
One with the Universe, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong |
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Shanxi Gaoping Kaihua Temple Wall Painting Exhibition, Arthur M.Sackler Museum of Art and Arthaeology at Peking University ,Beijing ,China |
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Ink painting of Zhang Yirong, Moscow, Russia |
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2016 |
The Chinese Porcelain Company, Asia Week New York, USA |
2015 |
SHUIMO/Water Ink, A Selling Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary |
Ink Paintings at Sotheby’s, S2 GALLERY, New York, USA |
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Art basel HongKong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong |
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2014 |
Beyond the Jade, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong |
As Above So Below, Lucie Chang Fine Arts, Hong Kong |
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Meditations in Nature, Ben Brown Fine Arts Hong Kong |
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Asia Week New York 2014, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, USA |
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2013 |
Ink paintings by Constance Fong and Yirong Zhang: The Chinese Porcelain |
Company, New York, USA |
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Asia Week New York 2013, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, USA |
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2012 |
Ink paintings by Constance Fong and Yirong Zhang, |
The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, USA |
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Asia Week New York 2012, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, USA |
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2011 |
Asia Week New York 2011, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, USA |
Another Landscape, Edge Gallery , Hong Kong |
Public collections and Exhibitions
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, USA
Art Institute of Chicago, USA
Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, USA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA
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