Behind The Appearance XIX Painting

J. Jie Li is a contemporary artist based in New York, she is a Signature member and board member of the Watercolor USA Honor Society; also a Signature member of the American Artists Professional League. After graduating from Parsons School of Design, she worked as a Fashion designer and Consultant before returning to fine art. Since then, her works have exhibited internationally and won numerous awards. The venues where the exhibition has been held and are currently being held include The Royal Academy of Arts and Mall Galleries, London, UK; The Alexandria Museum of Art, the Ormond Memorial Art Museum, the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, the Yellowstone Art Museum and the Springfield Art Museum, USA; The La Asunción Cultural Center and Muestra de Arte contemporáneo, Spain, etc. She is the winner of the Kenneth M. Shuck Memorial $3,000 Cash Award and Greg G. Thielen Memorial $2,000 Cash Award in Watercolor USA 2024 and 2023. Her works are in several private and public collections in China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States, including Consulate General of Japan, and the Albacete Provincial Council of Spain. J. Li expresses love, hate, and desire as rooted within the depths of human nature. Such expression is achieved by overlapping figuration and abstraction in her paintings, using the natural changes and disasters that occur in her landscapes as metaphors for human emotions and sensibility. J. Li’s artistic thoughts are deeply influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy theory, Zen and Daoism. She primarily works with watercolor. Yet, as visible in artworks from her collections, she challenges the conventional views of this medium. In her paintings, the medium is not so transparent, not so spontaneous in some parts, and not so ‘watercolor’ anymore. The brush strokes are delicate, sensitive and sharp; the essence of Chinese calligraphy is reflected in her works. In order to strengthen the persuasiveness and appeal of the work, J. Li added mixed media on the basis of watercolor and challenged to paint watercolor on canvas.