Zhang Yi was born in 1969, in Weifang, Shandong Province. Zhang graduated from School of Fine Arts of Shandong College of Arts in 1993 with a master's degree in Chinese painting. He is the director of China Artists Association, the executive vice chairman of Shandong Artists Association and he was appointed as a part-time master tutor at the Shandong College of Arts. 

In the process of appreciating Zhang Yi's Chinese paintings, one will see the momentum and power of the brush and ink, experience the spontaneity and exuberance of the images, and feel the passionate flair of the pictures. In fact, all these perceptions essentially point to the life force and life aura conveyed by his works. In his paintings, everything is alive and vibrant, and everything is full of vitality, overflowing with the dynamic energy of life.

His communication of the meaning of life is a feeling from the heart, a kind of observation of life itself. This expression of the simplicity of all things and an expression that points directly to the heart, shows a pure and plain Zen beauty.

Zen in Chinese culture, as a way of perceiving the world, is in essence also a communication between the mind and the world, and painting is also a spiritual practice, both of which are the pursuit of inner spiritual enlightenment and sublimation, which is in line with the realm of Chinese painting. Therefore, through painting, people can get infinitely closer to one's inner truth and freely observe the experience of life, which is the spiritual realm of Chinese painting, and also the realm of Zen.


In Zhang Yi's Chinese paintings, we experience the realm of Zen because these works bring us an infinite touch of the soul and allow us to experience the deep and quiet thoughts of life. Thus, Zhang Yi presents life, experiences life and contemplates life through his paintings, which is the very spirit of life captured in Chinese painting.

His Zen monks and Luohan characters are often unconventional, mostly cloaked, cynical and naturally wild, as if they were laughing and cursing, but also seemingly absurd. These figures are unrestrained, and they seem to be unable to be at peace with themselves, but they are passionate and spirited.


This extremely liberal and sincere nature, with an unrestrained mind and a free temperament, reflects the artist's broad-mindedness. Zhang Yi paints with rhythmical brushwork and rhythmic ink work. He uses his brushwork with a staggered side-sharp, medium-sharp, and reverse-sharp, and through the thick and thin, light and heavy, slow and fast lines, he makes the picture vivid and dynamic, with an inherent dynamic tension.

This leap in the external dynamics and the deep and quiet internal view of life is the realm of Zhang Yi's Chinese paintings, and thus constitutes the "Zen" state of mind of the picture. Generally speaking, only when one's mind is free when painting can one's brushwork transcend the form of objects.


The epiphany and reflection of Zen guide Chinese painting to the spiritual realm of spiritual clarity and stillness, to the infinite freedom of the mind, which is the simplest, yet the most philosophical and connotative. This is Zen, this is the Zen state of Chinese painting, and it is the natural and balanced spiritual feeling that Zhang Yi's Chinese paintings bring us.