About Jia Lu the Artist

Bejing, China native, Jia Lu was born into the world an artist by default. Daughter of renown painter, Lu Enyi, Lu started painting at the age of three. Her restless imagination was a driving force for her already skilled hand. Forced to endure violence during the Great Cultural Revolution in Bejing, Lu quickly learned to adapt to her surroundings. This experience would greatly impact her style of art, marrying a passion for the human experience with her gifted eye for the art of cultural transformation.  In 1980, at the age of 26, Lu was admitted into the Central Academy of Arts and Design in China. Here she studied under Fan Zeng a master of traditional Chinese figure painting. She graduated 3 years later in 1983.

Following her undergraduate, Lu moved to Canada where she attended the Toronto School of Art. She then attended the York University Faculty of Visual Arts where she studied as a graduate student.  Upon arriving in Canada, Jia Lu, knew no English yet adapted to the culture, intelligent and focused. Her formal education and natural talent allowed Lu prestigious opportunities to exhibit her work in Canada and, eventually, globally. While in Canada, Jia Lu was elected to the Ontario China Artists Association. Lu’s work consisted mainly of Chinese ink. It was during her travel to Europe that Lu changed her medium to oil on canvas, focusing on narrative realistic art, principally women.

Jia Lu’s oil paintings are heavily influenced by her passion for exemplifying the human figure through sympathetic roots and culture. Inspired by Eastern and Western religion, Lu’s art reflects her Buddhist and Christian philosophies portraying humanism and the undercurrents of individual cultures. With each painting, Lu seeks to persuade viewers of the individual story, history, emotion and experience that flows from brush to canvas. Jia Lu innately emphasizes beauty in her work as “strength and wisdom”, bringing to light realistic art that speaks with the warmth of a seasoned storyteller. Jia Lu has an eye for detail in things otherwise mundane that she brings to a fantastic visual crescendo, such as the steady blink of a wayward stare, the downward turn of a chin, the sweeping wave of a lock of hair; all things unseen by most but captured in the most spiritual way.

In 1997, Lu moved to Los Angeles where she lives and works today.

Jia Lu’s art and design have been exhibited in various locations since 1984 in the US, Canada, and Japan. Her impressive lists of accomplishments include:

• Twelve-year exhibitor at the Annual International Art Expo Art Fair in New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
• Her limited edition “Armillary Sphere” selected among the “Top 5 of 200” according to U.S. Art Magazine
• 26 paintings selected as the first solo exhibition by a Chinese American woman at the United Nations Headquarters, New York
• Has held over 200 group and solo exhibitions in the US, Canada and Japan.
• In 2011, The Global Times chose Lu as one of the top 50 most-recognized Chinese in the world.
• Lu also had the rare opportunity to go to Tokyo, Japan, and design 700 sq. m of murals and recreated model sculptures of Japanese Buddhist cave temples.

Jia Lu’s artwork includes Chinese ink paintings, oil paintings, prints, sculptures, watercolors and drawings and can be found in public and private collections around the world.  Although Jia Lu’s art is traditional in many ways, she also has much in common with contemporary art, as she captures “the human and the divine”, in a timeless pursuit. Quietly confident yet graceful, Jia Lu’s paintings are sought out by any collector seeking perspectives of feminine beauty through the lens of life and the world.

At Dolphin Galleries has many of her original paintings and prints for sale in our online store for a wide range of prices that will be sure to fit any budget. We purchase our art directly from the artist to ensure that you receive the highest quality of work and allowing you to buy in confidence. With our “Try Art, Buy Art” Program we take this risk out of shopping for art online. We guarantee that when you purchase art through Dolphin Galleries you will receive the same level of service as any other art gallery, but with the convenience of shopping from anywhere in the world.