Born in Tianjin in 1958, Li Jin is one of the best-known and most unorthodox ink painters in the so-called New Literati group. Before his study in the Painting Department at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, where he now teaches, Li trained in dyeing and weaving at the Tianjin Academy of Arts and Crafts, which partly explains his mastery of pattern and colour. Li Jin gradually formed his uniquely playful style in the early 1990s, and is now famous for his seductive depictions of the good life. In contrast to the formality and stereotyped subjects of historical literati art – often derived from famous texts, pictures by earlier masters, or both – food and wine and the sample things in life are Li’s subject matter. The Falstaffian figure that appears repeatedly in his work is modeled on himself, and the flirtatious, enticing young women are artist’s ideal of female beauty.
