Li Jin

signed and titled in Chinese with two seals of the artist, framed under Plexiglas



 



Executed in 2006.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, China Onward, Denmark, 2007, pp. 149-150, illustrated in color

Generally in very good condition; framed under Plexiglas. Not examined out of frame.
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Li Jin's paintings,  Holiday (Lot 142) and Red Hat (Lot 143), express the artist's joie de vivre, with lush pigments and sensuous brushstrokes describing gorgeously attired women and fabulously arrayed foods. In Red Hat, the echoing of background floral vegetation in the fabric of the woman's costume reflects the artist's understanding and love of pattern, derived from his undergraduate education in dyeing and weaving at the Tianjin Arts and Crafts School. His wry sense of humor is revealed in the liveliness of some of the food items: the fish and the bird's head in Holiday both seem poised to speak. The artist's love of food is legion: he can recount the contents of notable meals encountered on his travels, and as a food aficionado he was invited to paint the menu for artist Fang Lijun's well-known restaurant, South Silk Road. Hedonistic activities that feature frequently in Li Jin's paintings include not only the broadly recognized pleasures of eating, drinking, and sex, but also the under-appreciated pleasures including bathing and sleeping, and relaxing out of doors. He paints the ordinary, but succeeds in rendering it extraordinary.

The city of Tianjin, and the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts where Li Jin is a professor, are known throughout China for their ink painters. Many including Li belong to the New Literati movement of Chinese ink painting, aimed at advancing the field while adhering to time-honored ideals of literati painting. Li's technique may appear to be casual, but this is a reflection of the degree of his mastery of the brush. A key to this is his control of lushly applied bleeding color or ink, a technique also characterizing the works of his renowned aunt, Zhou Sicong (1939-1996).

-Britta Erickson