Yu Ping (b. 1967, Anhui) is a Beijing- and Wuhan-based painter whose three-decade practice reckons with the re-spiritualization of individuals in public life and the poetic comprehension of existence. She earned her BA in Oil Painting from the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in 1987 and, in 1996, returned to the same institution to study Chinese Painting under the master Liu Yiyuan.

Since the late 1990s, Yu Ping’s work has been characterized by meditative lyricism, unflinching observation, and a wandering through the “leaks in time,” capturing fleeting emotions and awakenings. Her early pieces employed surreal expressionist techniques, using diary-like imagery to document the “unreality” concealed within seemingly frozen moments of “reality.” Over the years, her practice has evolved through distinct series: the Chinese Landscape–Sleepwalker paintings, a bold foray into abstract ink expression, and, most recently, works recording marginalized or disappeared individuals in post-2020 socio-political events.

Reflecting on her approach between 2012 and 2018, Yu Ping wrote:

“I seek to balance dynamism and stillness, flamboyance and simplicity, tradition and contemporaneity. From mountain-water sceneries and natural flora to ink landscapes and gardens, I contemplate nature’s essence and life’s cyclical breath. My process—layering, deconstructing, washing, soaking, and smearing—reveals latent vitality, while gestural strokes leave lyrical traces that obscure or highlight imagined perspectives, allowing the gaze to breathe organically.”

Through this rigorous yet poetic methodology, Yu Ping crafts canvases that serve as portals to the hidden spiritual currents of everyday life. Learn more here.