Zhu Jinshi, born in 1954, is a pioneer of Chinese abstract art and installation art. He began to create abstract paintings in the early 1980s and moved to Berlin in 1986. Since then, he has been experimenting with performance, installation, and conceptual art. In 1994, Zhu returned to China, dividing his time between Berlin and Beijing until 2010. At present, he lives and works in Beijing.

Looking back at Zhu Jinshi’s art practice over the past forty years, abstract painting and conceptual installation are two practices that parallel each other while sometimes being confrontational. Zhu started his career with abstract painting, but while his installation practice stands alone from his painting practice, it has also inspired new forms of painting. Only when the two are viewed together can the striking aesthetic value of Zhu’s works be touched.

Zhu’s solo exhibitions include Ganjiakou 303 (2018), Pearl Lam Galleries, Shanghai, China; Detached from Colour (2016), Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong, China; Zhu Jinshi (2015–16), Yuan Art Museum, Beijing, China; Zhu Jinshi (2016), Blum & Poe, New York, USA; Performance in Paint: Zhu Jinshi (2015), Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, China; Zhu Jinshi: Boat, a Yi Pai installation (2015), organized by Pearl Lam Galleries at Exchange Square, Hong Kong, China; Zhu Jinshi: Simplicity (2014), Pearl Lam Galleries, Singapore; Zhu Jinshi: The Reality of Paint (2013), Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong; and Zhu Jinshi (2012), Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA.

Group shows include The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China (2020), Smart Museum of Art and Wrightwood 659, Chicago, USA; Inaugural exhibition (2019), Rubell Museum, Miami, USA; The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China (2019–20), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA; A Fairy Tale of Red Times: Works from the White Rabbit Collection (2019), National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; Black (2016), Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA; 28 Chinese (2015), San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, USA and Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA; Perfection by Chance—A Yi Pai Series Exhibition (2015), Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong, China; Thick Paint: Jean Fautrier, Franz West, Zhu Jinshi (2014), Luxembourg & Dayan Gallery, New York, USA; 28 Chinese (2013), The Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA; Orient/Ation, 4th International Istanbul Biennial in Turkey (1995), Istanbul, Turkey; and the 1st Xing Xing (Stars  Group) Exhibition (1979), Gallery in Beihai Park, Beijing, China. Zhu Jinshi’s works have been collected internationally by notable public and private collections.