Ying Tianqi, was born in 1949 in Anhui, China. A graduate of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, he is presently a Professor at Shenzhen University and an Adjunct Professor at the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, is the most renowned modern Chinese printmaker, whose representative work “Xi Di Village” has earned considerable fame in the arts field, and beganwork in mixed media in 2006. March 2011 he was invited by the prestigious China Central Academy of Fine Arts to host a solo exhibition, and in June received the highest artistic honor through an invited exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Biennial International Art Exhibition), which received wide accolades.

Through the 2011 “Century Traces” exhibition, Ying Tianqi unveils his profoundly perceptive Oriental aesthetic sensibilities, spirit and style, at the Shanghai Art Museum. Given the advent of globalization and rapid technological developments, Ying Tianqi eloquently swims against the stream as he exposes the impacts of modernization affecting our traditions. Relying on the rich tapestry of traditional Chinese heartland materials, his deft use of minimalism and semiotic exploration through collage and color illustration in mixed-media, serve to resuscitate a compelling sense of concern for the revival of traditional Chinese culture. These urgent pleas represent not only an artist’s heartfelt expression, but the consensus of the Asian cultural memory as repository of our special shared cultural attributes and profound historical appreciation. This exhibition, through works conveying the fullest sense of the “Spirit of the East”, reveal the uncompromising fastidiousness of an artist uniquely devoted to his innovative creation, worthy of the sustained attention of the contemporary arts and cultural criticism for this exemplary artist, Ying Tianqi.