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PROPERTY OF A HONG KONG COLLECTOR
LI JIN (B. 1958)
Glamour Dream
Details
LI JIN (B. 1958)
Glamour Dream
Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper
70 x 138 cm. (27 ½ x 54 3/8 in.)
Executed in 2014
EXHIBITED
Taipei, Gallery 100, Li Jin: Merrymaking, 29 March-27 April 2014
LITERATURE
Li Jin: Merrymaking, Gallery 100, Taipei, March 2014, pl. 7
Glamour Dream
Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper
70 x 138 cm. (27 ½ x 54 3/8 in.)
Executed in 2014
EXHIBITED
Taipei, Gallery 100, Li Jin: Merrymaking, 29 March-27 April 2014
LITERATURE
Li Jin: Merrymaking, Gallery 100, Taipei, March 2014, pl. 7
Further details
In a genre where the portrayal of elegance and serenity dictates aesthetics, Li Jin’s paintings exude a crude sense of reality rarely seen in Chinese ink paintings. It would be all too easy to discount Li Jin as merely another vulgar genre artist – yet upon repeated inspection, the viewer is rewarded with greater depth. Born in a traditional Chinese family in 1958, Li’s background reflects quite a different upbringing: he received formal training in painting at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, as well as from his aunt, the renowned portrait painter Zhou Sicong, who influenced his early artistic directions. Li’s journeys to the Dunhuang caves in 1981 and Tibet in 1984 opened his eyes to Tibetan culture. Tibet, its sun, colours and people, has had a lifelong influence on Li’s art, empowering it with optimism and richness.
Li’s typical compositions are packed with semi-naked figures and food, symbolising sex and nourishment, the two primal indulgences of life. The “excess” of things implies a sense of vanity, hedonism and conspicuous consumption displayed in contemporary China. This busy, colourful style relates to Li’s spacious home where he hosts large banquets among friends. Amid the laughter and folly, Li suggests that physical enjoyment may be transient – a concern for mortality hinted at in the lack of facial expression in his figures. In portraying this unembellished reality with humour, Li’s paintings resonate with the spirit of a daily life that is filled with contrasting emotions.
Li’s typical compositions are packed with semi-naked figures and food, symbolising sex and nourishment, the two primal indulgences of life. The “excess” of things implies a sense of vanity, hedonism and conspicuous consumption displayed in contemporary China. This busy, colourful style relates to Li’s spacious home where he hosts large banquets among friends. Amid the laughter and folly, Li suggests that physical enjoyment may be transient – a concern for mortality hinted at in the lack of facial expression in his figures. In portraying this unembellished reality with humour, Li’s paintings resonate with the spirit of a daily life that is filled with contrasting emotions.
Brought to you by
Sibley Ngai