Artist-in-Residence, Spring 2012:

The Studio Art Exhibition Program at Dartmouth College presents "Paintings and Drawings," an exhibition of work by spring Artist-in-Residence Ying Li.

For two decades now, Ying Li’s paintings have impressed for their fevered, slashing brushstrokes and raw textures. It’s easy, though, to confuse the look of passion with genuine fervor. The qualities that truly elevate Li’s paintings derive from keen and original observations, and a grasp of the language of painting. In her second exhibition at Lohin Geduld, color and gesture – bold, yet surprisingly nuanced – impart a full-blooded presence to her exuberant scenes of nature.

In these landscapes of Newfoundland, Upstate New York and Pennsylvania, every element reads as a dashed-in gesture. But each matters uniquely. In Pond (2010-11), cool and warm grays press upon each other between cordons of purple and pinkish-white; the eye registers a specific, shimmering depth that, contrary to all logic, becomes a single surface of water, its stillness all the more remarkable for Li’s vigorous brushstrokes. Melting (2011) shows another truth we know subjectively but might never have really considered: the striking variety of whites of snow beneath a tree’s fanning branches. For any good painter, observation and invention are intertwining forces, and Ying Li’s latest canvases continue to show how the deepest realities emerge from “mere” patterns of color. (John Goodrich)

Ying Li received her undergraduate degree from Anhui Teachers University, Wuhu, Anhui, China, and her MFA from Parsons School of Design, New York, NY. She has had solo exhibitions at Swarthmore College, PA; The Painting Center, New York, NY; Bowery Gallery, New York, NY; ISA Gallery, Umbria, Italy; Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, PA; Marie Salant Neuberger Campus Center Gallery, Bryn Mawr College, PA; Tompkins College Center Gallery, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA; Enterprise House, County Mayo, Ireland; and Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY, among others. Li’s work has been exhibited in many group shows including at The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; The National Academy Museum, New York, NY; Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY; Lori Bookstein Fine Art, New York, NY; Lancaster Museum, Lancaster, PA; Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY; Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY; and Gross-McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. Li’s work has been reviewed in publications including Art in America, The New York Sun, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Artforum. She has been the recipient of several awards and grants, including the Henry Ward Ranger Fund Purchase Award from the National Academy, the Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Foundation Award, two Vermont Studio Center Fellowships, and the Heliker-LaHotan Foundation Fellowship. Ying Li lives and paints in New York City and in Haverford, PA and is Professor of Fine Arts and Department Chair at Haverford College.

Ying Li will give an artist talk on Tuesday, April 3 at 4:30 in Loew Auditorium, Hood Museum of Art. A reception will follow in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery in the Hopkins Center. The public is invited.

For more information please call the Studio Art Exhibition Program at (603) 646-1397.