Yunyao Zhang
Galerie Jocelyn Wolff is pleased to announce the representation of Yunyao Zhang.
Working in graphite, colored pencil, charcoal, pastel on white felt, Yunyao Zhang produces compositions that position his subjects fragmented or close up, resulting in enigmatic, haunting scenes. His work articulates a disquieting vision of the body transformed by representational processes.
Drawing from photographs, medical imaging, or his own imagination, tubular forms, cavities, and enigmatic details also emerge. Initiated in 2010, Zhang’s drawing practice—allowing neither erasure nor error—demands near-surgical precision. Equipped with a palette limited to a range of blacks and grays, and far removed from any spectacular gesture, he meticulously maps the surface and draws freehand upon it to create a matte, imprinted texture: gradually, the image emerges from the velvety surface of the felt. Since the beginning of his studies in Shanghai, Yunyao Zhang has worked with light and material, with a particular interest in the human body, eroticism, sensuality, emotions and drama.
Zhang’s process of creating his drawings is methodical and labor-intensive; he has undertaken new experiments in his recent exhibition projects. In 2023, he initiated Palace of Alienation at the He Art Museum, inspired by 19th-century European encyclopedic animal illustrations, and more specifically by the work of the Austrian master dyer and painter Aloys Zötl. He depicted primates in colored pencil and graphite on felt. Later, on the occasion of Once Within a Time – 12th SITE Santa Fe International, curated by Cecilia Alemani, he also presented collages combining academic drawings, references to art history, and dried plants he gathered in the region.
It is the research-driven dynamic that runs throughout Yunyao Zhang’s practice that has fascinated us since discovering his work at the Biennale de Lyon, and that has shaped our desire to support him and to integrate his work coherently into the gallery’s program. We are delighted to begin this collaboration in partnership with DON Gallery in Shanghai, and its founder Xixing Cheng, whose commitment and dedication to fostering dialogue between Asian and European scenes we greatly appreciate.
A solo exhibition by Yunyao Zhang will take place at Galerie Jocelyn Wolff in 2027.
Born in 1985 in Shanghai, Yunyao Zhang lives and works in Paris. A graduate in 2007 from the Oil Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts at Shanghai Normal University, he moved to Europe at the beginning of 2020. In 2013, he was the youngest Chinese artist selected for the Glenfiddich Artist residency program.
His work has been presented in several major international exhibitions and events, including the 12th SITE SANTA FE International – curated by Cecilia Alemani (Santa Fe, US, 2025), Musée Fenaille (Rodez, France, 2025/2021), BY ART MATTERS (Hangzhou, China, 2025), HEM Art Museum (Foshan, China, 2024), Musée des beaux-arts de Caen (Caen, France, 2023), The 16th Edition of Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art – “Manifesto of Fragility” (Lyon, 2022), MAM - Musée des Arts de la Marionnette (Lyon, France, 2022), MAC Lyon (Lyon, France, 2022), Qingdao Art Museum (Qingdao, 2021), Zeno X Gallery (Antwerp, 2021), Watou Arts Festival (Watou, Belgium, 2021), chi K11 art museum (Shanghai, 2016), CAFA Art Museum (Beijing, 2015), Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (Shanghai, 2013), etc.
His solo exhibitions include: “Sweetheart” (Artro & Don Gallery, Kyoto, 2025), “Palace of Alienation” (HEM Art Museum, Foshan, 2024), “Palace of Alienation” Part II (Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2024), “Palace of Extasy” (Qiao Space, Shanghai, 2019), “Skin Gesture Body” (Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2017), “Nec Spe, Nec Metu” (Perrotin, Hong Kong, 2017), “After Evensong” (Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2015), “Touch Point” (01100001 Gallery, Beijing, 2013), “Mirage” (Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2013), and “Paradbox” (Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2011), etc.
