Featured Image: Fire-like Lycoris radiata, 2024 ink and colour on paper , 40 x183 cm

Hong Kong – 3 December 2024 – PhillipsX, a selling exhibition platform operated by the global Private Sales team at Phillips, is pleased to announce Li Jin: The Way of the Dragon, a solo exhibition of Chinese contemporary ink painter Li Jin, taking place from 5 December 2024 to 10 January 2025 at Phillips’ galleries in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District. Featuring Chinese calligraphy and ink paintings by Li Jin, the exhibition pays tribute to traditional Chinese culture, reviewing the artist's career spanning over 30 years from the early 1990s to the present. Li Jin draws inspiration from daily life, observing diverse cultures and social phenomena with an open perspective. He explores the expressive forms of traditional ink painting in a modern way, creating works that are both sincere and humorous.

Dina Zhang, Head of Modern & Contemporary Art, China, Phillips, said: "We are honored to collaborate with Li Jin to present Phillips’ first show dedicated to a Chinese ink painter. From flowers, birds, fish, and insects to famous Buddhist verses, Li Jin's autobiographical works capture the details of daily life. Art and life merge seamlessly in his creations, bursting with emotional resonance that touches viewers’ hearts. We welcome collectors and enthusiasts visiting our West Kowloon galleries to experience the charm of traditional Chinese ink art, exploring its deeper meanings and mysteries."

Li Jin said: "I am very pleased to collaborate with Phillips to present a new solo exhibition in Hong Kong after 10 years. I create art based on instinct, influenced by tradition and academic elements. Ink painting has been a way of reading and practicing for me since childhood, deeply impacting me. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the development of Chinese contemporary ink painting, and showcasing my decades-long exploration of ink art at this time holds great meaning for both me and Chinese ink art. This show brings together works I created over the past 30 years, from pieces made in Tibet in the 1990s to recent works painted during my stay in the Tiantai Mountains."

Li Jin is widely known for depicting themes of food and sensuality in contemporary life, using bright and rich colors with delicate brushwork. One of the highlights of this exhibition is The Heart Sutra, which took nearly a year to create and depicts a whimsical banquet scene. At the center of the painting is a voluptuous female body, a recurring theme in Li Jin's works, representing humanity's inescapable physical nature and innate desires. Surrounding the scene are various characters, including the German social theorist Max Weber, Sean Connery as James Bond from the film '007,' and a diverse array of ordinary people Li Jin encountered on the streets of Osaka, New York, and Berlin. There are also masked people and animals, as well as at least eight self-portraits of the artist himself, each embodying different roles, such as a Norman soldier, an Elizabethan merchant, a Brooklyn hippie, a drunken skiing accident victim, a disgruntled artist, and an Edwardian chauffeur. Displayed in the banquet are endless delicacies and fine wines from different countries. Interspersed among the indulgence in food and drink are texts from Buddhist scriptures and chants. Reciting or copying these texts, as Li Jin does, is a process of repentance, accumulating merit to offset the obsessions and sins of life.

Not only are there vibrant women and feasts of wine and meat, but Li’s paintings also depict everyday fruits and vegetables, all personally grown by him. His works capture the essence of ordinary life, sometimes full and passionate, other times lazy and leisurely. He combines his whimsical ideas, life insights, and exquisite skills, inviting viewers to appreciate his unique world and savor the beauty of life.

Born in 1958 in Tianjin, China, Li Jin graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in 1983 and served as an Associate Professor in the same academy. He has held solo exhibitions in China, the United States, Australia, Germany, and other countries. Today, his works are in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The National Arts Museum of China in Beijing, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others.

(Press Release)