Born in 1966 in Jilin, a city in northeastern China, Huang Yan is an artist who masterfully interweaves tradition and avant-garde. Having started out as a poet and deeply rooted in Daoism, Huang developed into a conceptual and multidisciplinary artist who questions, protects and reinterprets Chinese culture with image and body.

He became internationally known for his iconic series Chinese Landscapes, started in 1999, in which he painted traditional Chinese shan shui landscapes (山水, literally “mountain-water”) on the human body – often his own – and then photographed them. This daring fusion of classical brush technique with photography and performance art broke artistic taboos and offered a contemplative mirror: the body as a carrier of culture, history and identity. At a time when China was rapidly modernizing, Huang Yan used landscapes as a form of cultural meditation and protest. As he himself said: "Landscape is my resistance to worldly conflicts and a way to let go of my Chan ideas."

His work seems traditional at first glance, but on closer inspection it is radical. This was recognized early on, including by his participation in the famous exhibition Fuck Off (2000) in Shanghai, curated by Ai Weiwei and Feng Boyi – a manifesto of Chinese artistic independence.

Huang Yan's oeuvre has been exhibited worldwide in leading institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Centre Pompidou and the British Museum. His work is held in prestigious collections, including those of Uli Sigg, Artur Walther and the Ullens duo. His international solo exhibitions in cities such as Beijing, Paris, New York and Amsterdam, and his participation in renowned biennials – from Venice to São Paulo and Moscow – underline his lasting influence.

Today, Huang Yan lives and works in Beijing, where he continues to balance between preserving cultural roots and challenging artistic boundaries. With his brush on skin, he reminds us that art should not only be seen, but also felt – literally and figuratively.