Li Jin

signed and titled in Chinese, stamped with four artist seals and executed in 2013, framed

Private Collection, China

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Li Jin has been described as an artist who seeks to express the essence of Ruben in Chinese Ink Paintings. In his early work, Untitled, the subject's torso  is enlarged to a highly exaggerated level, whilst the legs and feet are dramatically reduced, forming a sharp contrast between the delicate and the coarse in an image that serves as a striking example of his Rubenesque expression.

 

Describing Li Jin's oeuvre, Michael Kahn-Ackermann commented that in Li Jin's paintings, there is only one man – Li Jin himself. On the surface, the man in the paintings looks like a simple being, eating and womanizing like other men, but there is always a hint of concern and he is rarely enjoying himself thoroughly. Li Jin said that drawing himself was neither his intention nor a self-conscious choice; this image - a man with single eyelids, a large nose and a beard - was in fact developed unintentionally, a product of self-discovery. He described it: "(this man) is one person but there are two faces. By removing the beard, he becomes a woman. By giving him a beard, that person becomes me, a man. I'm interested in those sensitive, delicate feelings, such as the feeling of languidness, or a focused expression in one's eyes, the subtle changes of expression in the eyes, or the nuance in one's gaze." This is the "Li Jin style" man/woman that we find in Untitled.

 

Li Jin believes that "all contemporary qualities must be attached to the artistic language. I am not seeking the extent of revolution in this language, but rather, I just want my thoughts and topics to evolve." He insists that "what I'm doing now is to show concern for the contemporary society and for my own life, using traditional Chinese painting materials." In The Bamboo's Whispers Roused Me From My Drunken Sleep(lpt124), Li Jin employs his highly developed skills with brush and ink, to present a variety of foods: roast duck, spring onions, fresh fish, braised meat and turnips are vividly conjured in a work that uses food to convey a strong sense of a common experience.