Biography

Yi Zhu is an artist who grew up amid China’s major social transformations, and he maintains a constantly evolving mindset. He has witnessed the dramatic changes in China’s economic structure and the era of profound shifts, which have shaped his worldview.

In his early years, he engaged in printmaking and illustration, creating numerous works with unique visual compositions. During his career in commercial design, Yi Zhu led his own design company. The company provided designs for China’s advertising market, promoted point-of-sale experiences, and handled packaging designs for international fast-moving consumer goods companies in the Chinese market. Under his leadership, the design company won the “Best Creative Award” and “Best Supplier Award” from the Chinese subsidiary of a well-known international brand.

Confronted with various social phenomena in the business sector and the struggles and aspirations of human nature amid competition, Yi Zhu has created a great number of prints and oil paintings, defining himself as a creator who deconstructs and reconstructs in painting. During the global pandemic in 2019, due to his insights into life, along with other factors, and having witnessed the ups and downs of life during the pandemic, he began to produce a large quantity of oil paintings and prints.

The underlying logic of life is breathing. Social factors endow this breathing with a stance, as well as the tension and contraction of life. This has ignited in Yi Zhu a strong desire to express such perceptions of life. Exhalation represents tension, while inhalation represents contraction. Life should not be suppressed; the essence of life is freedom.

Selected Exhibitions & Fairs

• 2025 “Interconnected Lines” (Group Exhibition), Artio Gallery at MEAM – Museu Europeu d’Art Modern, Barcelona, Spain
• 2025 Art Fair Innsbruck (Art Fair), MONAT Gallery, Innsbruck, Austria
• 2025 “EMBER” (Group Exhibition), MONAT Gallery, Madrid, Spain
• 2025 Art Plus (Art Fair), Shanghai, China
• 2025 Art Below (Group Exhibition), Ad Lib Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• 2025 Madrid Station Exhibition (Group Exhibition), Contemporary Art Station, Madrid, Spain
• 2025 THE BODY LANGUAGE 2025 (Group Exhibition), ITSLIQUID, Venice, Italy
• 2024 Chelsea Biennale (Group Exhibition), Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York, USA
• 2024 ArtExpo New York (Art Fair), New York, USA
• 2023 Art Plus (Art Fair), Shanghai, China
• 2023 ArtExpo New York (Art Fair), New York, USA
• 2022 ArtExpo New York (Art Fair), New York, USA

Awards

• 2025 Certificate of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg Art Prize, Pinacothèque Luxembourg, Luxembourg
• 2025 Painting Gold Prize, GBCA Global Best Creative Awards - 2025 Season 2, Wembely, England
• 2025 Oil Painting Gold Prize, Future Art & Design Award UK - 2025 Spring Season, Wembely, England
• 2025 Best Green Painting Gold Prize, World Green Sustainable Design Award - 2025 Summer Season, Wembley, England
• 2024 Certificate of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg Art Prize, Pinacothèque Luxembourg, Luxembourg
• 2023 Winner – Best Solo Exhibitor, ArtExpo New York, New York, USA
• 2023 Certificate of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg Art Prize, Pinacothèque Luxembourg, Luxembourg
• 2022 Certificate of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg Art Prize, Pinacothèque Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Selected Press

• Article “Mr. Zhu Yi’s Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Painting - Decentralized Tuber Works from Genesis to Existence” by Artron (2025).
• Article “Painter Zhu Yi gained attention for his internationally award-winning works at the 2025 Art Plus Shanghai Fair” by ChinaNews (2025).
• Review article “Yi Zhu: Unraveling Anatomy, Reassembling Meaning” by AATONAU (2025).
• Interview “Yi Zhu: Deconstructing And Reconstructing Reality” by AATONAU (2025).
• Interview “Interview with Yi Zhu: A Surrealist Dialogue with the World” by World Organization for Design, Art & Creative Competitions (2025).
• Article “Yi Zhu in the Global Best Creative Awards Hall of Fame — Artist” by GLOBAL BEST CREATIVE AWARDS (2025).
• Article “World Green Sustainable Design Award 2025 Summer Season Winners Spotlight - Yi Zhu” by World Green Sustainable Design Award (2025).
• Spotlight interview “Artist Spotlight - Yi Zhu” by Contemporary Art Curator (2025).
• Interview “Deconstructing Materiality: The Art of Yi Zhu” by Circle Foundation for the Arts (2025).
• Interview “Yi Zhu” by Contemporary Art Curator (2024).
• Interview “The Spiritual and the Surreal: Yi Zhu’s Exploration of Life and Imagination” by Contemporary Art Collectors (2024).
• Interview “INTERVIEW | Yi Zhu” by Al-Tiba9 Art Magazine (2024).
• Carmela Brunetti, The Dematerialization of Artistic Form to Rediscover Life in Art on World N14 (2023).
• Carmela Brunetti, Yi Zhu in Art on World N10 (2023).
• Interview by Obras de Arte in Obras de Arte (2022).
• Interview “UNIVERSO DE LAS ARTES – Yi Zhu” by Revista The Bard (2022).

Contact

Contact me through email at zhuyi@zhuyi.art for any inquiries. There are selected works for sale on Artsy.