Ni Youyu is born in 1984 in the province of Jiangxi (China). He currently lives and works between Shanghai (China) and Berlin (Germany).
After studying ink painting at the Fine Art Institute of the University of Shanghai from which he graduated in 2007, Ni Youyu received the "Best artist of the year" award during the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards (CCAA) in 2014.
Ni Youyu's work has been showcased in great solo shows like ∞ at Yuz Museum (Shanghai, China, 2019), Ni Youyu: Dust paintings at the Orange County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, Etats-Unis, 2018), Concrete Waterfall at the Kunstverein Konstanz (Constance, Germany, 2017), Constant Dropping Wears Away A Stone at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) of Taipei (Taiwan, 2015), Inches of Time at the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts (China, 2014), Form and Matter at the Hive Center for Contemporary Art of Beijing (China, 2013), Zilch - Ni Youyu Independent Project at the Shanghai 9 Museum Project Space (Chine, 2013), and A Brief History at the Shanghai Art Museum (China, 2012).
He also took part in numerous prestigious group shows such as Ritual Spirit at the White Rabbit Gallery (Sydney, Australia, 2018), Collage: The Cards Players at the Shanghai Gallery of Art (Shanghai, China, 2017), Shanghai Galaxy II at Yuz Museum (Shanghai, China, 2017), The Weight of Lightness: Ink Art at M+ Museum (Hong Kong, China, 2017), New Capital - Works from the Huang Yu Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chengdu (China, 2016), Chinese whispers recent art from the Sigg & M+ Sigg Collections at the Kunst Museum of Bern (Switzerland, 2016), Revolution in Tradition: China's post-ink painting era at the Galerie Nathalie Obadia of Paris (France, 2015), Ink Remix: Contemporary Art in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong at the Canberra Museum (Australia, 2015), Harmony and Transition : Reflecting Chinese Landscapes at the Museum Marta Herford (Germany, 2015), Overlay Image at the Casa Dei Carraresi Museum of Treviso (Italy, 2015), The 2nd "CAFAM Future Exhibition Observer - Creator at the 798 Art Zone of Beijing (China, 2014), Garden Splendors at the Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum (China, 2014), A Tale of Two Cities at the Shanghai Duolun Museum of Art (China, 2014), Outside The Lines - New Art From China at the RH Contemporary Art of New York (USA, 2014), Thinking of Landscape - Paintings from the Yeap Lam Yang Collection at the Singapore Institute of contemporary art and the LASALLE College of the Arts of Singapore (2014), Confronting Anitya - Oriental Experience at the Contemporary Art Kunstraum Villa Friede of Bonn (Germany), at the Yuan Art Museum of Beijing (China) and at the China Kunstwerk Charlshuette Buedelsdorf Germany Art (Germany) (2014), Broken·Stand - The new painting to order at Shanghai Long Museum (China, 2014), John Moores New Painting Prize at Shanghai Himalayas Art Museum (China, 2014), Labor & Time at Chambers Fine Art Beijing of Beijing (China, 2014), How Now 2014 : Silent Force at the How Museum of Wenzhou (China, 2014), On the Road 2014 at the Guan Shanyue Art Museum of Shenzhen (China, 2014).
Ni Youyu's work is represented in several private and public international collections such as the White Rabbit Gallery (Australia), the M+ (China), the Rockbund Art Museum (China), the Brooklyn Museum (USA), the Arario Museum (South Korea), the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts (AMNUA) (China), the Singapore Art Museum (Singapore), the Me Collectors Room Berlin (Germany).