The latest work from Chinese-American painter Lu Cong. Born in Shanghai in 1978, Cong immigrated to the U.S. in 1989. After graduating from the University of Iowa with degrees in Biology and Art in 2000, Lu chose to pursue portrait art over medicine. Between 2003 and 2007, Lu was recognized by a number of art publications as a notable emerging artist. Since then, Lu has developed a distinctive look that many has regarded as an original approach to figurative realism. His portraits do not simply capture the physical or emotional likeness of the subject, rather they beckon to establish an authentic engagement – interaction that ensues when one comes face to face with the sensual, the inexplicable, and the unsettling.
Of his work Cong says, “My recent paintings depict young adults, at around the coming of age. I painted them in ways that I feel is most relevant to my experiences. I don’t make art with the overt intension to critique or dissent. However I am aware that what I feel to be authentic is often a reaction against what I feel isn’t. In this case, my approach to painting is in part shaped by my apathy towards the ‘intellectually respectable’ ways of painting; and in part provoked by commonplace and repetitive visuals of ‘mass media.’ My concern when painting is how real it is; not in its actual likeness, but in its immediacy and meaningfulness to myself.” (Vered Gallery)
Check out more of Cong’s work at LuCong.com.
