Born in Tianjin, China. Zhang graduated from Tian Jin Arts and Crafts Vocational College in 1988. In 1993, he was invited to give lectures at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. Zhang is an important figure in the contemporary experimental Chinese ink and wash painting of the 1990’s. Major exhibitions including: 1992, “Chinese Artist Zhang Yu: Modern Ink and Wash Exhibition”, Belyaevo Modern Art Museum, Moscow, Russia; 1999, “Color, Brush and Ink: Zhang Yu and Heidi Meyer”, German Embassy, Beijing, China; 2001, “Zhang Yu: Experimental Ink and Wash”, Red Mansion Foundation, London, UK; 2006, “Fingerprints: Zhang Yu”, Goedhuis Contemporary, London, UK; 2007, “Fingerprints: Zhang Yu”, Goedhuis Contemporary, New York, USA; 2009, “Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint Works”, 40th Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland; 2010, “Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint Works”, Art Asia Miami, USA; “Diffused Fingerprints – Zhang Yu’s Art works”, National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan; 2011, “Confluence – Zhang Yu and Sohan Qadri”, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, USA; 2012, “Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint”, CONTEXT Art Miami, Miami, USA; 2013, “Cultivation Practice – Exhibition of Zhang Yu’s Fingerprint Works 1991-2013”, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea. Main collections: Hong Kong Art Museum, Hong Kong, China; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, U.S.A; the Estella Collection Foundation, New York, U.S.A; Olenska Foundation Art Museum, Geneva, Switzerland; Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium; Belyaevo Modern Art Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Private collections: His Serene Highness Albert II, Prince of Monaco.