Cave of Ten Thousand Buddhas No. 3

Shi Zhiying is a figurative painter that draws on Chinese and European painting traditions. As a child she studied ink painting and calligraphy and later studied oil painting at the Fine Arts College of Shanghai University. After graduation her paintings of objects from her everyday life, like a pair of shoes or a bowl of rice, executed in a thinly veiled wash of mono-chrome oil paint established her as a key figure in a new generation of Chinese women artists. Her most recent paintings demonstrate a fascination with the religious sculpture and architecture of Asia that resonates with current global interest in the themes of cultural ruins and relics. This work is part of a series of paintings that were inspired by the south wall of the Longmen grottos in Luoyang, Henan, a sacred Buddhist site from the Tang dynasty (618-907 ACE). Buddhist practise, especially the ideas of contemplation and meditation that encourage one to pursue a simple lifestyle and focus on the essential things have long served as an inspiration to Shi Zhiying. She says; “My painting is like meditation; a slow and peaceful process that takes a long time to develop. Buddhist scripture suggest eliminating all that is inessential to distil the essence. Simplicity is realty.”

Asian Art Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2015