Li Jin

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About the artwork

In a series of works of Bali, Li Jin documents wander through wet markets and gardens, watching dances, tasting street food and refined cuisine, observing everyday gestures and rituals. In 巴厘岛少女, Li Jin is clearly captivated by a Balinese girl. He employs the tools of traditional portraiture—namely achieving a “resonance with his subject’s energy” to chuanshen “transmit the spirit” of his subjects. His practice is neither idealised nor symbolic, the subjects appear as they are, slightly ungainly and real. Their expressions—wide-eyed and taking in the world around them—suggest moments suspended between movement and stillness.

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.