Born in 1985 in Shanghai, where she currently lives and works, Zhang Ruyi has been able to create a highly cohesive yet diverse body of work. Over the past decade, she has developed a precise and delicate sculptural material language, responding to the multiple changes undergone by the micro and macro urban texture and thus becoming one of the most original voices of the con-temporary Chinese art world. This bilingual monograph (in English and Chinese) will be the most complete publication on the artist to date, and will focus on the main steps of the artist's creative path. The monograph will include an introduction by the curator of the publication Manuela Lietti, and two critical essays by leading scholars on Chinese art. The iconographic sources will span a wide array of solo and group exhibitions that will highlight Zhang's specific use of materials, found objects, urban debris, artefacts related to the urban and industrial experience transformed by her personal perception of them. Devoid of any stereotyped sense of Chinese-ness, the work of Zhang Ruyi is a subtle yet powerful reflection on the interlacing of the collective and individual realms in the fast-forward context of an urban metropolis in a constant state of change. Zhang Ruyi, whose work has been presented extensively in China and abroad, is part of the upcoming Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale Fragility; Zhang Ruyi: Speaking Softly is her future solo show at UCCA in Beijing, opening in December 2022.
