China
Statement
Junyi Lu is a painter and comic artist born in Guangzhou, China. She graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, United States in 2018. Her works take a philosophical view on a person’s existence in the universe, in relation to either the society or nature. She believes such existence is full of absurdities, such as people always desire the things they cannot have. The artist portrays these absurdities through a sense of humor, because she finds these serious and heavy moments in life are often also ironic and comical when they are looked back from later. Her paintings and comics contain obscure expressionless figures set in whimsical and surreal scenes, leaving a funny and speechless feeling to the viewers. Junyi Lu explores varied mediums including gouache, acrylic and oil, and carefully designs each layer of paint, in order to create both visual and physical depth on canvases. Her works have been exhibited in City-Play Art Studio in Shanghai, SPUR Gallery and Julian Allen Illustration Gallery in Baltimore. She has been accepted by French comic website Grandpapier and her comics have been featured in Small Press Expo 2018 book fair in Washington D.C. and the Thanksgiving book fair of Fou Gallery in New York.
Profile
GlogauAIR resident from January 2020 to March 2020
GlogauAIR Project
I believe there is inlaid energy in every creature, such as dirt, tree, and humans. Although such energy may be either generated from the inside or acquired from the outside, it exists as an independent form apart from the outer world. My project will focus on such energies of human beings, in order to understand the metaphysical core free from social attachments and judgements based on the common value system. Our modern society is a long-constructed illusion, for there is no absolute truth. According to Friedrich Nietzsche, the world is built out of the will to power; while people have faith on the absolute veracity of laws, values and languages, it is just invented to strengthen the authorities’ powers. My project criticizes people’s blind reliance on these encouraged ideologies. I believe people can connect spiritually, and break through the restrictions of language and normative values. During the residency, besides relevant academic research, I will observe citizens in different places in Berlin, and record their behaviors by notes, videos and photography. These preparatory steps help me portray their metaphysical energies. Based on the research, I aim to produce around 12 paintings and drawings. Figures in the paintings will have liminal representations, without features that have direct associations in common social values, such as appearance and identity. The process of discovering people’s invisible energy, and then concretizing it through the medium of painting can separate their inner selves and outer selves. Through looking at the external reality, I am searching for another universal spiritual dimension of reality. The GlogauAIR program provides a convenient and comfortable environment for creative practice, and the location of Berlin also helps me to combine my experience in the East and West, which benefits my project in searching for a universal human experience.
CV Summary
EDUCATION
- 2018 Maryland Institute College of Art BFA(cum laude) Illustration
EXHIBITIONS
- 2018 My House is the Whole World, City-Play Art Studio, Shanghai, China
- 2018 Thanksgiving Art Book Fair, Fou Gallery, New York, NY
- 2018 Junyi Lu, Bunting Center, MICA, Baltimore, MD
- 2017 Music Illustration, Julian Allen Illustration Gallery, MICA, Baltimore, MD
- 2016 Brilliant:LDN, SPUR Gallery, Baltimore, MD
AWARDS+HONORS
- 2017 MICA Competitive Scholarships for Returning Undergraduate Students
- 2016 Winifred M. Gordon ’28 International Program Award
- 2014 MICA Competitive Scholarships for Transfer Students
RESIDENCIES
- 2019 Untitled Space, Shanghai, China
- 2019 In-Situ HongKong Artist Residency
