Yan Ping (b.1956, Shandong, China) attended Shandong University of Arts in 1979, graduated in 1983. In 1989, Yan Ping attended the Oil Painting Department at Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA).

She is now a professor of School of Arts, Renmin University of China, director of China Artists Association, as well as the director of China Oil Painting Society. Her art radiates tenderness and thoughtful observations which are exclusive to female artists.

Yan Ping’s art practice emphasizes color expression. The clear indoor light and bright colors drawn by her distinctive character strokes introduce something new to Chinese audiences, who are accustomed to heavy forms, and repressed emotions of art to feel the cheerful and clarity of humanity from art. 

Yan Ping’s paintings give a warm and clear humanity to the Chinese environment. The most frequent colors found in Yan Ping’s oil paintings are rose pink and gemstone green. She uses them because they represent life, a reference to heme and chlorophyll as the source of life for animals and plants. The red and green colors symbolize a vitality of an endless force and emotion.

Yan Ping has hopeful beliefs for peace and compassion, but she encountered a devastating decade of the Cultural Revolution during her childhood. Thus, her value in beauty and romance were not with her at the time. As a result, Yan Ping brought these feelings and thoughts about love alive in her artworks. Her works today are vivid, lively and romantic, which are dramatically opposite from her adolescent experiences.

Yan Ping has exhibited in many important museums: Shandong Art Museum (2021), National Art Museum of China (2020), Jining Art Museum (2019), Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (2018), Palais Brongniart (2016), Today Art Museum (2016), and Xi’an Art Museum (2012). Her works are included in prominent collections, such as National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Art Museum, Xi’an Art Museum, Fang Yuan Art Museum, etc.