Using everything within his reach, Ye Zhu adopts a maximalist approach to painting, both materially and technically. Zhu combines natural materials such as tree roots and semi-precious stones with mass produced plastics and hardware – all while using acrylic paint and relief sculpting to fuse all the components together. His work spans the history of Western and Eastern art and cultural influences—ranging from Duchamp’s readymade assemblages to Tishan Hsu’s expositions of human nature and technology. His scope combines classical painting techniques with abstraction and Chinese nature paintings, and in doing so, Zhu propels the conversation of contemporary painting toward global interconnectedness.
Ye Zhu (b. 1986, Taishan, China) has had solo exhibitions at DIMIN (2023) and Harkawik Gallery (2022) in New York; Moskowitz Bayse (2021) in Los Angeles; and Andrew Freedman Home in The Bronx (2022). Just this past year (2024-25) he was a resident at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), Dieu Donné Workspace, Brooklyn; and Wave Hill, The Bronx. He has created numerous public projects including a tribute art installation for healthcare workers in the Yale School of Medicine (2022); a billboard at Kingsgate Project Space in London, UK (2021); A Universe in Strafford, NH (2021); and CONSTELLATION in Governors Island, New York (2021) featured in The New York Times.