Born in Shanghai in 1963, Zhang Lin Hai graduated from Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 1990, with a degree in engraving. Zhang was adopted from a Shanghai orphanage by his foster parents and at a tender age he witnessed the devastation of the Cultural Revolution. He suffered from various illnesses, including polio, and at the age of four he survived his sickness, only to be left with a crippled leg and hand.? By the age of 17, Zhang ventured out from his small village into the city. He settled in Handan and began to develop his interest in painting.

The exhibition will feature both a body of new works previously unseen by Zhang Lin Hai, as well as a collection of his older works brought back from private collections worldwide. These artworks span from 2002 to 2008 - demonstrating the artist's mastery in development of both his style and technique.

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Like many Chinese artists, Zhang Lin Hai is influenced by Surrealism. He began painting in the realist style and then moved away and into the poetic sensibility of Classical Chinese painting. Zhang Lin Hai studied engraving, so his work contains blocks of simple but bold colours, suitable to the themes of his paintings and the moods he wishes to convey.

-----? The Dejected Sorghum by Li Xian Ting, 2002