A Chinese contemporary artist, Zhang Yunyao questions and explores the language of painting, influenced by changes in the external environment. The artist seeks to explore the unfixed meaning of emotions and desires by incorporating felt as the support for the medium of painting.

Yunyao was born in Shanghai, China in 1985, where he currently lives and works. He graduated from Department of Painting, Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai Normal University in 2007. He exhibited in a range of venues, including Don Gallery, Shanghai, 01100001 Gallery, Beijing, Art Stage Singapore, Singapore, CAFA, Beijing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai and Art Musem of Nanjing University of Fine Arts, Nanjing.

Through his practice Yunyao examines and challenges the very medium of painting. His works are about brushstrokes, rhythm, mood, image, color, etc. At the same time, his gives careful consideration to ways of seeing.

Featured image: Zhang Yunyao - Standing Figure / 站立的形體, 2017 (detail). Graphite on felt. 86 3/5 × 64 1/5 in. 220 × 163 cm. Photo courtesy Perrotin