Author Archives: jolanta
The Ties That Bond Us
Together Forever, a group show of four female artists on view at Broadway Gallery this past September, should be lauded for its unique approach to representations of identity and the relationship between the self and the other, as well as for its compelling presentation of four diverse and distinctive female voices that in concert harmonized […]
Flesh Fixations
In the early days I just wanted to be given a chance. I got rejected numerous times by the fashion and adult industries, photo reps, and advertising agencies. I have kept every rejection letter and every fan mail I have ever received. The Art Center College of Design and the rest of the people that […]
A Papercutting Peasant
Gong Jian: You’ve had many interesting experiences in life. Li Hong-Jun: My experiences are perhaps quite different from average people. I lived in the country until I was 20 years old. Then I was transferred to the county cultural center, and was in charge of public education about prints, traditional paintings, and oil paintings. I […]
Swiss Subversion
I became interested in photography because of portraits of people and nudity. I don’t have any issues with being naked, and I like pictures of naked people. If I can take pictures of other people being naked, I have to be able to take pictures of myself naked. I like the honesty that flows when […]
Made In China
We are a generation born after the 80s. We have not experienced wars or hunger. We have not been a part of China’s rebuilding process, but we enjoyed the happiness that resulted from that process when we were young as we watched animation films and ate our Jell-O. When we grew up, we began to […]
Bare Naked
Since the day my mother, an accomplished artist, put a camera in my hand at the age of 13, I have attempted to capture the subtle, hidden beauty of the world. My current work focuses on what I refer to as “cinematic female nude portraiture.” The fact that the models are nude is almost inconsequential […]
A Fantasy in Black and White
The force of nature can never compete with our efforts of forcing nature. The byproduct and manifestation of my frustrations and egotism seem to devolve into the things I love. This is my life; there is no other side to my coin. I create to live and live to create. It may have some issues […]
Relational Aesthetics
The actualization of an authenticity remains bound up in popular notions of the aims of artistic practice. Perpetuated by the osmosis of art historical ideas into the popular consciousness, mass understandings of art often embrace the idea that the artist seeks to present an authentic experience. This is particularly notable in popular notions about figurative […]
Updating the Old Masters
A studio artist exhibiting for two decades, I create carefully crafted representational paintings of figures and still life, using the techniques and processes of the Old Masters. My works are included in many fine private collections, and my skills as a portrait painter have won commissions from patrons both regional and national. I attended the […]
Character Myths
In my book The Critique of Wu Guan-Zhong’s Art—on Zhuo Mo’s, Shui Tian-Zhong’s, and Lu Hong’s Critique of Wu, I wrote, “Judging from essential artistic values, Wu’s art is obviously limited. The reason is that he didn’t surpass Chinese traditional symbolism. He references to Western contemporary formalism. The beauty of Abstraction theory and methodology of […]
