Zheng Lianjie

Life and work

Born in 1962 in Beijing, Zheng Lianjie is a representative figure among the group of Chinese artists working abroad. Zheng divides his time between Beijing and New York. As a teenager, he studied traditional Chinese calligraphy and poetry and has continued to devote himself to the further exploration of ink painting and calligraphy over the past 30 years. His work spans a wide array of genres and styles, including calligraphy, contemporary ink painting, performance art, video, installation, sculpture, and conceptual photography.

In the early 1980s, Zheng spent 3 years at Palace Museum in Beijing studying traditional Chinese painting. In 1986, Zheng founded one of the earliest painting schools in Beijing, “Beijing Earth Calligraphy and Painting Art School.” In 1992, Zheng’s ink painting “Dance of the East” was awarded the Gold Prize in Korea’s 9th International Art Show. The Korean Association of Artists held an award ceremony in Zheng’s honor at the Tianlun Dynasty Hotel, which was widely covered in the local media, including Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, China Daily and China Youth Daily Newspaper. This early exposure introduced Zheng’s artistic achievements to a much wider audience and heralded him as the first Chinese artist to initiate cultural and artistic exchange between China and Korea.

Moving into the mid 1980s, Zheng started experimenting with contemporary ink, and traveling all over China. He participated in Beijing’s Yuanmingyuan art group in the late 1980s.(following Tiananmen Square protests of 1989) It was also during this time that Zheng began to become known for his subversive and critical stance toward conservative artistic language and pursuit of a new independent and individualistic style. He once said in early 1990s: “Avant-garde art should be a sharp knife, a weeping flower”. Zheng turned to performance and installation art in the late 1980s. He is one of the earliest artists in China to integrate performance art with the natural environment.

Zheng immigrated to the United States in 1996, while he continued to explore the experimental side of contemporary ink painting and calligraphy, he also continued to use his body itself as a means to ponder immigration, assimilation and the different psychological challenges faced by individuals and society from different cultural backgrounds. Several performance pieces from this period would become important chapters of contemporary Chinese performance art history.

Between 2004 and 2008, Zheng Lianjie returned to China once a year to make a pilgrimage to the holy Taoist Mount Hua. During his time on Huashan, Zheng meditated with a Taoist monk, an experience that would have a profound impact on his ink paintings and calligraphy from this period. Zheng's works fuses Taoism and natural aesthetics together, earning great critical acclaim. Zheng's work has been included in numerous exhibitions, symposiums and public art projects held all over the world. During the 2000s, Zheng Lianjie delivered invited talks and held exhibitions at major universities, including Harvard and Columbia. His work has also been featured in major media outlets such as The New York Times and The Asahi Shimbun. His works have been collected by museums, galleries, universities and several international private collectors.

In 2012,Zhenglianjie was named as United Nations Messenger of Peace in LinZhou, China in recognition of his distinguished achievement in the art field.

Selected artworks

Exhibitions