Linda Gallery (Beijing) is proud to present "Zhu Wei: New Works Exhibition" from November 21, 2025, to January 21, 2026. Curated by Professor He Guiyan, the exhibition features a hundred and fifty of the artist's most recent small-scale ink works, spanning four series: figures, still lifes, architectures, and techniques. Departing from the conventional completeness of traditional ink painting, these creations no longer rely on the accompaniment of inscribed poems or seals. They embrace purely contemporary painting norms instead, seeking to establish a new path for Chinese ink art—one that is more relatable, accessible, and capable of breaking through closed loops to engage directly with the world.
In her essay, Britta Erickson, lecturer at Stanford University, art scholar, curator and critic, noted: “Blandness is anathema to contemporary art, where superlatives are common and artists pursue the shocking so as to capture the attention of jaded viewers. And it is not just that viewers are jaded: attention spans seem to be shortening as the volume of visual cues skyrockets due to the ubiquity of online culture and the saturation of the city environment with signage. Figure painting in particular eschews the bland. For Zhu Wei, to move decisively away from verisimilitude and emotional drama in pursuit of the Neutral is a major step. Zhu Wei’s push toward absolute blandness in figure painting is unique”.
"As I can recall, Zhu Wei was the first person who deliberately introduced ink painting to the door of contemporary art. In other words, when most people were still asleep, he woke up early—and he was not woken by others, but woke up naturally. People who understand contemporary art know that contemporary art emphasizes concepts over means, where concept is the core, and means (including materials and so forth) are in a subordinate position. The materials of ink painting should not be an obstacle to creation. However, within the closed loop mentioned above, people have adopted an approach of collective unconscious: they made a cocoon around themselves as a cave, a place to avoid the vertical and horizontal comparison, so that they could relieve themselves from the anxiety and pressure when facing such confrontations. Zhu Wei woke up early and naturally, unlike the ones who were woken up by others—as soon as they opened their eyes, and realized that a thousand years outside the cave was as a passing night, they hastily changed their coats and jumped on the bandwagon without thinking. The advantage of waking naturally is that every step of creation, from sowing to harvesting, from flower to fruit, happens by nature, and it all comes from the surging talent and impulse inside,” wrote renowned art critic Li Xiaoshan in his essay "The Day Lasts More Than a Year.”
Curator He Guiyan pointed out: “In the field of contemporary Chinese ink painting, Zhu Wei plays an important role with his works involved in a variety of themes, which not only have a clear developmental trajectory and artistic language, but also reflect the changes and breakthroughs of contemporary Chinese ink painting and traditional Chinese Gongbi after 1989. Zhu Wei began his creation in the mid and late 1980s. At the beginning, he consciously integrated personal creation into the art history where the contemporary ink painting placed itself. Briefly, since the reform and opening-up of China, the development of contemporary ink isn't just an artistic issue, but also a social, cultural and even ideological one. "
The artist Zhu Wei remarks, "Contemporary art is flourishing and bustling with activity. I, too, once thought that we had entered an era of witty tricks and sensationalism. But that’s not the case. The vibrant diversity and spirited competition in contemporary art today are aimed at establishing new orders and methods. These methods are built on civilization rather than culture alone. In fact, what is national remains national, and what is global remains global. Culture is about accumulation and an act of addition, meant to preserve uniqueness; civilization, on the other hand, is about subtraction, emphasizing commonly recognized values and requiring communication and compromise.”
Zhu Wei
Born in 1966 in Beijing. As a pioneer and leading figure of Chinese contemporary ink and wash，he is the most internationally influential contemporary ink and wash artist and the first artist to introduce meticulous painting techniques into the field of contemporary Chinese art. Since the early 1990s, his ink paintings have been exhibited in more than 300 large-scale exhibitions all over the world, and have been published 30 painting and retrospective albums in multiple languages. There are more than 70 of his works that are housed in the collections of 43 museums and art institutions across the globe.
He Guiyan
Famous art critic and curator. Graduated from CAFA with a Doctor's degree, he is the professor and director of Art Theory Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.
