Jia Juan Li
BORN: 1960
HOMETOWN: HANGZHOU, CHINA
LIVES AND WORKS: PARIS, FRANCE
Jia Juan Li, originally from Hangzhou, graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts and from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1986 and 1991 respectively. She was invited by the French government in 1996, to further her studies at the Aix-Provence Academy of Fine Arts (Aix-Province), and has lived in Paris since 1998 to engage in artistic creation.
The inspirations from Jia’s paintings stem from the nostalgic memories of the Forbidden City in Beijing and the fondness of her mother’s bedtime stories. Her works are filled with visions from her vivid imagination, illustrating luster from previous eras. Her distinguishing factor is the ‘’East-meets-the-West’’ style and technique that is prevalent in her paintings. To add-on, the colour scheme in her paintings is not abstract, as it blends with her style and technique hence, producing work that is ‘’one-of-a-kind’’ and sought after by many art collectors.
Her representative work. “Song Without Words”, won the Bronze Award in 1991, at China’s first annual oil painting exhibition. “Spring Garden” won the Monte Carlo International Contemporary Art Painting Award in 2004, and “The Intra-Miyagi Series” won the National Art Salon Painting Bronze Award in 2008, the First Prize of the David Neiyi Award in 2009, and the Gold Award for Painting at the Louvre International Art Exhibition in 2012.
Since then, Jia has held her solo exhibitions and group exhibitions in art galleries across China, Japan, Hong Kong, the United States, France, Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and other countries, with many of her works winning important awards at home and abroad.