ZHANG Ruyi (b. 1985) currently lives and works in Shanghai. Her artistic practice is centered around the logic of the everyday, occupying a unique space through the reconciliation of artifacts, industrial experiences, and urban life. She draws inspiration from commonplace materials, exploring and mediating the hierarchy and interplay between the individual, the material, and the place as a key narrative pathway. Her work primarily involves site-specific installations, sculptures, and integrated media. By using "reality" as a model, she aims to illustrate how the changing urban environment shapes individual emotions. Through the visual language of paradoxical transformation, she embeds intuition and observation into simple materials, imbuing them with a spiritual significance that extends beyond the material itself.
2012 MFA, Fine Art College of Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
2007 BA, Fine Art College of Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
E-mail: ruyizhangstudio@gmail.com
Selected solo exhibitions
2023
"Once Remain, Once Remould," Don Gallery, Shanghai, China
2022
"Speaking Softly," UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
"Modern Fossil," SSSSTART, Shanghai, China
2019
"Consciousness of Location," Don Gallery, Shanghai, China
"Bonsai," François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, United Stated
2016
"Building Opposite Building," Don Gallery, Shanghai, China
"Pause," WHITE SPACE-Beijing, Beijing, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
"The Neutral", WilloW, Seoul, South Korea
"14th Taipei Biennial: Whispers on the Horizon", Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
"12th SITE SANTA FE International: Once Within a Time", SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, United States
"NOV. 10, 2001" , ZiWU the Bridge, Shanghai, China
2024
"Territory," Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany
"Shanghai Palimpsest: Restaging the R.A.S. Library”, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
"Follow the Feeling," Times Museum, Guangzhou, China
"Realm of Flow and Variation, Second Session: Unceasing Currents”, Shanghai Oil-painting and Sculpture Institute, Shanghai, China
2023
"Dust Piles Us Up," Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, China
"A Theatre of Waiting," The Cloud Collection, Nanjing, China
"Projection," Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China
"Bordercrossing: Possibilities and Interactions," Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China
"The Exhibition of Annual of Contemporary Art of China (Shanghai)," Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
"Genealogy Study of Artists Retrospective Exhibition Season One," Start Museum, Shanghai, China
"Steadfastly Revise for the Standards in Nonproductive Construction," Long March Independent Project, Beijing, China
2022
"Magic Square: Art and Literature in Mirror Image, 2022 Beijing Biennial ‘Symbiosis’," Friendship Art Community, Beijing, China
"Manifesto of Fragility- 16th Biennale de Lyon Contemporary Art," Museum Guimet and The Religious Art Museum of Fouviere, Lyon ,France
"Breaching Sanctum," F Hall Studio, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong, China
"ON | OFF 2021 Carousel of Progress," He Art Meseum, Shunde, China
"Theseus Voyage," Don Gallery, Shanghai, China
2021
"Death Ray on the Coral Island - Science Fiction and Its Archeology,"Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
"MIRAGE OR REALITY," K11 Art Museum, Shanghai, China
"Right now Right here Stand by Her," DOLAND Museum, Shanghai, China
"Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth," PACE, California, United States
2020
"More More More," TANK Shanghai, Shanghai, China
"The Palm at The End of The Mind," Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong, China
"Metaphorical Reality," Almine Rech, Shanghai, China
"Resistance of the Sleepers," UCCA Dune, Qinhuangdao, China
2019
"Holy Mosses," Blindspot Gallery, Hong kong, China
"A Composite Leviathan," Luhring Augustine Bushwick, New York, United States
"Encounter Shanghai Urban Space Art Season," Yangpu Riverside, Shanghai, China
"Long Day," Aranya Art Centre, Qinghuangdao, China
"Folded Veil," Kiang Malingue, Hong Kong, China
"Glow Like That," K11 Foundation, Hong Kong, China
2018
"Walking On the Fade Out Lines," Rockbound Art Museum, Shanghai, China
"Witness," Pilar Corrias Gallery, London, United Kingdom
"A World in a Grain of Sand: Mapping Shapes and Sites for Social Geometries," FOSUN Foundation, Sanya, China
"Emerald City," K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong, China
"Steadfastly Lower the Standards in Nonproductive Construction," Don Gallery, Shanghai, China
2017
"Zhong Guo 2185," Sadie Coles HQ, London, United Kingdom
"The New Normal: Art and China in 2017," UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
2016
"La Chair," A+ Contemporary, Shanghai, China
"A Beautiful Disorder," Cass Sculpture Foundation, Good Wood, United Kingdom
"Mountain Sites: Views of Lao Shan," Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China
"WE: A Community of Chinese Contemporary Artists," chi K11 art museum, Shanghai, China
PROJECTS
2023
“Shadow of Ruins”, Hu Shi Guang Art Eco Site, Longyou, China
2020
“Renovation: Building Debris”, Tongren Road, Jing'an, Shanghai, China
2018
“Profile”, Art Basel HK, Hong Kong, China
2017
“Renovation: Dump”, Telescope, Beijing, China
“Renovation: Commodity”, MoCA Pavilion, Shanghai, China
2014
“Gap”, Bazzar Compatible, Shanghai, China
2011
“Things that I Don’t Understand”, Muskmelon Man Commune, Shanghai, China
GRANTS
2025
“Asian Cultural Council Hong Kong: New York Fellowship”, New York, United States
PUBLIC COLLECTION (SELECTION)
Centre Pompidou Permanent Collection
Asymmetry Art Foundation
Yuz Museum
Power Station of Art
M+ Museum Collection
Tanoto Art Collection
De Ying Foundation
BY ART MATTERS
START Museum
Longlati Foundation
Macalline Art Center
Fosun Foundation
Sifang Art Museum
The Cloud Collection