Untitled

Untitled (1999) by Qi Zhilong

Oil on canvas, 41cm x 33cm

Collector: Katrina Austin

This lovely untitled painting of a Chinese girl was bought for me by my husband for my 30th birthday twenty-five years ago. A good friend of ours was a friend of the political pop artist Qi Zhilong whom she met when she was living in Beijing in the 1990s. My husband and I had seen one of his ‘Chinese girl’ paintings at our friend’s house and we admired its beauty.

When our friend headed off on a trip to Beijing not long before my birthday in 1999, my husband asked if she would try to purchase a similar painting on his behalf to give me as a surprise gift. Our friend visited Qi Zhilong in his studio and purchased one of his “Chinese Girls.” I was ecstatic!

Our Chinese girl still hangs on our wall and is much admired. It has a lovely pink background, the brush strokes are soft and blended, and the girl in the painting looks peaceful and happy — which may be irony on Qi Zhilong’s part given she is dressed in the typical uniform from the era of the Cultural Revolution. Is he expressing nostalgia for that period or simply using an iconic image as a prop for his work? Whatever the motive for his "Chinese Girl" paintings, the result is very appealing.

We purchased a book of his paintings and ours looks similar to ones he created between 1995 and 1998 so we think he may have painted it in the years before our friend visited him, possibly as early as 1995.

We would love to meet Qi Zhilong one day and ask him more about his painting as he unfortunately forgot to date and sign it! In the meantime we attribute it to 1999, the year it joined us in our home.

Katrina Austin

(Katrina  Austin and her family have an interesting and eclectic collection of paintings that hang among a jungle of plants, a couple of cats and  a large assortment of artefacts from their travels.)