Li Jin

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About the artwork

堂上三千珠户客 瓮中百斛金陆春 Three thousand guests traverse the hall of pearl-studded doors, A hundred bushels of gold rest in jars, heralding spring’s prosperity. In 金陵春, Li Jin presents us with one of his fantastic, imaginary banquet scenes. For this celebratory feast, his guest list includes an amalgamation of characters alongside various personas of the artist himself, all meticulously dressed for the occasion. In front of the assembled diners lies an unending bounty of delicacies, from roast meats and seafood to many other gastronomic delights. Rendered across an expansive horizontal format, the work is grounded, observational, and tactile, recording not only the visual spectacle but also how the experience is fully encountered—through appetite, memory, and the senses.

About the artist

Li Jin (b. 1958, Tianjin, China) is one of China’s most beloved contemporary ink painters, celebrated for transforming everyday moment into colourful, whimsical narratives. A member of the New Literati movement, Li draws on the classical literati tradition and reinvigorates it with vivid humour and modern flair. His expressive brushwork and candid subject matter—full of food, sensuality, and playful self-portraits—redefine the boundaries of traditional ink painting.

Educated at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts (BA, 1983), where he later served as Associate Professor, Li Jin has exhibited globally in China, the U.S., Australia, Germany, and beyond. His works are in prestigious collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Seattle Art Museum, National Art Museum of China, Hong Kong Museum of Art, and Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Indeed, even at their most extravagant, Li Jin's pleasures scenes are tinged with the melancholy of solitude and the unreality of a dream or a memory.