Jia Lu () is an oil painter working in America, known for blending Asian and European imagery in her paintings, predominantly of women.

Biography

Jia Lu was born in 1954 in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and is the daughter of Chinese oil painter Lu Enyi (吕恩谊). While living in China, Jia Lu worked as an operating room nurse, an actress and magazine editor. In 1980 she was admitted to the Central Academy of Arts and Design (中央工艺美术学院), now part of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

and studied under Fan Zeng, graduating in 1983.

Career

In 1983, Jia Lu left China to study art in Canada, first at the Toronto School of Art and later as a graduate student at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

Faculty of Visual Arts. She was elected to the Ontario China Artists Association. Her first major solo exhibition was at the Sarnia Public Art Gallery in 1989 and at the Edmonton Art Gallery (now the

Art Gallery of Alberta The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is an art museum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The museum occupies an building at Churchill Square (Edmonton), Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton. The museum building was originally designed by Donald G. Bittor ...

) in 1994. From 1983 to 1995 she worked primarily in Chinese ink and mixed media, and exhibited her work in commercial galleries in Ontario and Alberta. Jia Lu worked from 1990 to 1993 in Japan and China, where she conducted extensive research into the Chinese figurative art preserved at the

Mogao Caves The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...

and is credited with the design of the "World's Largest Buddhist Mural" measuring 700 sq m. In 1995, after travel in Europe, Jia Lu changed her medium to oil on canvas, and began to create realistic figurative work. In 1997 Jia Lu moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

where she continues to live and work. From 1997 to 2007 she exhibited annually at International Art Expo and in galleries throughout the United States and Canada. In 1999 she was invited as one of three artist to represent China and exhibited 15 paintings at the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

China Culture Week in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 2000, she was the first Chinese woman to hold a solo exhibition at the UN Headquarters in New York. Her limited edition print “Armillary Sphere” was selected among the top 5 prints of 2000 by U.S. Art Magazine. She was given the key to the city of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

as an honorary citizen the same year. In 2002 she exhibited her work at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, and designed the "Goddess of Life" Chinese Memorial statue erected at the Guam International Airport, based on her painting "Flame". In 2009 she returned to China to participate in the Shanghai International Art Fair and Fine Art Beijing and in 2010 at the CIGE and Art Beijing fairs, and was the subject of a two-hour documentary on CCTV-9.　In 2011 she was chosen among the top 50 most-recognized Chinese in the world by '' The Global Times''.

Work

Jia Lu's works include Chinese ink paintings, oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, sculpture and prints. Her early work strongly reflected the traditional aesthetics of her teacher Fan Zeng, but by the time she exhibited in Canada, she was critiquing new social developments, consumerism and power relations in China through a series of mixed-media self-portraits. Her mature work in oils demonstrates an interest in Buddhism and a purely feminine aesthetic, and can be seen as a response to the masculine, sensual approach to the female nude. However, she has also painted male figures. In numerous interviews she has emphasized the importance of beauty in her work, which she describes as "strength and wisdom."

External links

Jia Lu website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Jia 1954 births Living people Painters from Beijing 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American artists of Chinese descent 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American women painters