Lin Yusi was born in 1978 in Huilai, Guangdong Province, China. He graduated from the Department of Chinese Painting at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 2002 and later served as a visiting professor at his alma mater. He is currently the Vice President of the Guangdong Gongbi Painting Society, a full-time artist at the Guangzhou Academy of Painting, and a member of the China Artists Association. He now lives and works in Guangzhou.
Lin Yusi’s art takes brush and ink as its fundamental language, opening a profound visual dialogue between tradition and contemporaneity. Grounded in the precision of gongbi (meticulous) technique and infused with the freedom of xieyi (expressive) spirit, he constructs pictorial spaces that oscillate between illusion and reality. Through his explorations of pictorial structure, layering, and chromatic rhythm, Lin reinterprets traditional visual idioms for a modern context, demonstrating the renewed vitality of classical brushwork in the present age. His paintings embody deep spiritual resonance and symbolic meaning, reflecting on humanity, temporality, and the dimension of dreams. Deeply inspired by classical Chinese tales of the supernatural—such as Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio and In Search of the Supernatural—his works are imbued with mythic imagery and cultural mystique, where figures, flora, fauna, and landscapes interweave poetically within an imaginative world. This “mythology of brush and ink” establishes a lyrical aesthetics of contemporary ink art—at once introspective and transcendent, delicate yet charged with power.
Since his first solo exhibition Blossoms of the Heart at C2 Art Space, Guangzhou in 2008, Lin Yusi has maintained an active presence on the contemporary art scene, presenting exhibitions in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Paris, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. His honors include the Silver Award at the 2018 Carrousel du Louvre Salon in Paris, the 289 Art Fashion “Emerging Artist of the Year” award (2015), the Excellent Work Award from the China Artists Association Nomination Exhibition (2006), and the Nokia Graphic Art Competition Outstanding Work Award (2000). His works are widely collected by major institutions and private collectors, and he has collaborated across disciplines with brands such as Uniqlo, NIO, and Audi—extending his artistic language into broader realms of contemporary culture.