Yun-Fei Ji (b. 1963, Beijing, China) lives and works in New Jersey, United States.

Yun-Fei Ji is a storyteller who draws on historical and present-day events, focusing on the lives of ordinary people. Accounts of displacement, natural disasters and corrupt authorities in rural villages are transformed into semi-fictional narratives. Ji works in the tradition of Eastern art-making, painting on handmade rice paper with translucent ink or paint made from natural pigments. His distinctive draughtsmanship draws on centuries-old techniques, including calligraphy.

Ji’s subjects evoke traditional Chinese landscape painting: his figures and scenes recall tales and epics from Chinese folklore and history. His work resonates with the ancient Dynasty Masters, whose paintings combined technical mastery with a deep sense of sorrow and melancholy, often conveying underlying political messages. Ji illustrates internal tensions within Chinese culture – the human tragedies resulting from the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, for example, or the collapse of the communist utopia – while expanding his scope to address wider global issues. These include the societal upheavals following Hurricane Katrina, the invasion of Iraq and the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

By referencing past events to comment on contemporary developments, Ji creates richly layered works that reflect personal and symbolic fantasy, as well as a broader meditation on human tragedy and beauty.

Yun-Fei Ji has held solo exhibitions at the Pratt Institute (New York), Cleveland Museum of Art, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University (Waltham), The Hilliard Art Museum (Lafayette), Honolulu Art Museum, UMCA (Amherst), Richard E. Peeler Art Center (Greencastle), Krannert Art Museum (Champaign), Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing), Worcester Art Museum and ICA Philadelphia.

He has participated in the Whitney Biennial (New York, 2002), the Lyon Biennale (2011), the Biennale of Sydney (2012), and the Shanghai Biennale (2014). His work has featured in group exhibitions at The Drawing Center (New York), the British Museum (London), MoMA (New York), Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), Marta Herford, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Vancouver Art Gallery, S.M.A.K. (Ghent), Menshikov Palace / State Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg), Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), and FRAC Picardie (Amiens).