About
Biography
Zhang Shiyu was born in 1995. A contemporary Chinese painter and founder of the Shiyu Art Museum in Shanghai, she lives and works in the city. She has drawn since childhood, turning from oil painting to Chinese ink painting in 2016, and was admitted to the Royal College of Art in London in 2022.
Her work has consistently sought to bring Eastern ink brushwork together with Western colour, moving through realism and xieyi freehand painting into abstraction, and arriving at a contemporary language of her own by the age of thirty. She is a member of the Minhang District Artists Association in Shanghai and serves as Eurasian Art Promotion Envoy to the Hong Kong International Chamber of Commerce Union, working to bridge Eastern and Western aesthetics.
Statement
At the centre of Zhang Shiyu's work is a celebration of women's resolve and resilience. Taking Freud's theory of sexuality as her theoretical anchor, she examines the power of female sensibility and its deeper significance as the origin of life and, beyond that, as a spiritual source of the universe. At a moment when artificial intelligence steadily amplifies rationality, her work insists on the value of that sensibility, and on its irreplaceability.
She works by body rubbing, taking impressions directly from the body. The method is at once a sincere form of self-expression and a criticism of the plagiarism and absence of originality that pervade the art market and commercial production — a call, made in the work itself, to hold to and respect original creation.
Exhibitions & Recognition
- —Boomer GalleryLondon
- —Hé Guāng: Contemporary ArtCarrousel du Louvre, Paris
- 2025LANDSCAPE — awardLos Angeles International Art ShowPines and Cranes
- 2025Borderless Realm — honourShanghai–Milan dual-city exhibitionPines and Cranes
In 2023 The Elder entered a private collection, acquired by a gallery investor for ¥300,000. When the same work appeared at auction in 2024 it drew the attention of more than 4,000 collectors at ¥2.7 million.
On the strength of a solid technical grounding and a distinct artistic style, she has become an artist of considerable potential in contemporary art, and her work is held to carry stable collectible value.
The hand is the physical origin of all human creation, labor, perception and resistance; it is the very tool the artist holds brushes, confronts adversity and connects with the world. Each gesture across the series (fully outstretched, tightly fisted, cupped, reaching forward, gently curled inward) corresponds chronologically to the mental journey of ten years studying art: Outstretched exploring hands: Curiosity at the start of art study, testing and expanding creative boundaries; Clenched fists: Perseverance against academic pressure, geographic transition, and conflicts between tradition and modernity; Retracted inward hands: Period of confusion and introspection, breaking free from rigid academic limitations; Soft relaxed hands: Self-reconciliation, acceptance of personal style, and embrace of diverse artistic values; Upholding hands: Firm commitment to artistic ideals, sustaining creative passion with long-term dedication.
Ten Periods · 2016 — 2025
Transferred from Oil Painting to Traditional Chinese Painting in 2017. Deeply studied the history of Chinese fine arts, systematically imitating classic flower-bird and landscape works from Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Rooted in traditional brush-and-ink techniques, integrated contemporary personal aesthetics to form an ink style combining ancient heritage and modern expression.
Figure Ink Painting In-depth Period (2018) — Evolving from basic sketching and commissioned portrait orders to field creation among laborers, finalized a personal artistic style centered on highly difficult freehand figure painting, combining traditional Chinese ink brushwork with contemporary realistic human narrative, and shaping solid modeling skill, expressive ink language and exclusive artistic identity.
This batch is the original experimental works of Cell Universe created in 2024, made before the final maturation of my artistic language. With original stamping textures, circular cell symbols and thick abstract brushstrokes, these paintings reflect women’s physical confinement, mental repression, setbacks in reality, grievance, anger and inner struggles in society. Each circular cell is a miniature of the self. The bold clashing colors and unrestrained lines release complicated emotions from facing prejudice, life pressure and identity restrictions in early years. It records the awakening of self-awareness, confronting pain and fighting against hardships, laying both spiritual and technical foundations for the later mature and calm Cell Universe series.