Yu Zhao

Yu Zhao is a painter specialising in abstraction. Her painting seeks to create a prehistoric field of writing. Yu Zhao retraces her steps to capture the original image behind the art of the brush.

A Chinese heritage

Born in Beijing and based in France for the past 20 years, Yu Zhao has received a dual training in both Western and Chinese art. Along her journey, she encountered contemporary dance, whose approach and philosophy have since inspired her practice.

At the same time, Yu Zhao pursued an in-depth research into writing within ancient Chinese painting, a study that has become a fundamental source of truth for her creative process.

According to the ancient Chinese masters, each calligraphic stroke was compared to a “surreal” image. Her painting thus becomes a space for experimentation and meditation. Within a consistent style, each work reveals a unique universe.

Tempera, an ancestral technique

Yu Zhao’s primary medium is tempera (egg-based paint), an ancient Western technique once used in the art of icons, by Italian Renaissance artists, and even by great modern masters such as Klee, Picasso, and Rothko.

She paints on heavy watercolour or design paper, which is later mounted onto canvas. Close to ink wash painting, tempera offers transparent and luminous effects. Both mythical and spiritual, it is also one of the most solid and enduring forms of painting.