Born in Beijing, 1961, Lin Yan currently lives and works in New York and Beijing. She received a BA from the Department of Oil Painting, the Central Academy of Fine Art, then studied at the Painting Materials Laboratory of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1986, finally graduated from the Visual Arts Department of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 1989 with an MFA. Taoist idea has always been lingering in Lin's life and art. She uses Xuan paper, the oldest and simplest material, as her main medium to create installations and painting sculptures with architectural properties. The juxtaposition of black and white, hardness and softness are similar to Tai Chi, where substantial and insubstantial aspects are compatible, echoing the balance of yin and yang in traditional Chinese philosophical thought. Inspired by the ancient buildings in Beijing as well as the industrial elements of her home in Brooklyn, New York, Lin blurs boundaries, embraces conflict, and blends history, past, and present. By infusing the influence of ancient and modern, China and foreign countries on her, she has defied conventional restraints and the use of traditional materials, and created an artistic language suitable for herself.

Recent solo exhibitions include: “Lin Yan: Blowing in the Wind” (Lens Gallery, Beijing, 2023), “Lin Yan: Gateway” (The Dover Street Market Taikoo Li, Beijing, 2021), “Lin Yan: No Return” (Leo Gallery, Art Basel Hong Kong Online, 2021), “Lin Yan: No Return” (Leo Gallery, Hong Kong, 2021), “Lin Yan: Regeneration of Hope” (Leo Gallery, Art Basel Hong Kong Online, 2020 not 2021), “Lin Yan: Origin Point” (Helwaser Gallery, New York, 2019), “Lin Yan: Inverted Shadow” (Leo Gallery, Shanghai, 2018), “Lin Yan: Gateway” (Fou Gallery, New York, 2017), “Lin Yan” (Eslite Gallery, Taipei, 2016). Recent group exhibitions include: 2023 Datong Contemporary Art Season “Seeking the City” (2023), “In The Mood For Love” (VillageOneArt, New York, 2023), “Mountain Ridge” (WS Gallery, Shanghai, 2023), “When All At Once I Turn My Head” (Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, 2022), the 12th Fiberart Biennale Exhibition “From Lausanne to Beijing” (Yunnan Provincial Museum, Kunming, 2022), “Big in China” (White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, 2021–2022), “A Material Lineage: Pang Tao and Lin Yan” (Pearl Lam Galleries, Shanghai, 2019), “Useless Value” (Wanting Art Museum, Shijiazhuang, 2017), “Crisscrossing East and West: The Remaking of Ink Art in Contemporary East Asia” (MOCA, Yinchuan, 2017). Her works are in public collection of White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chengdu; Deutsche Bank Art Collection, New York; Long Museum, Shanghai; Pang Xunqin Art Museum, Changshu; Taida Museum, Tianjin; National Art Museum of China, Beijing; the Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing.