Nothing prevents artists from exploring multiple styles, or even fusing them throughout their journey, provided they do not lose the foundations of their language—particularly when it comes to reconciling two opposing worlds: the Orient and the Occident.
At the crossroads of these two cultures, Zhu Linjing is able to set aside the constraints of the calligraphic tradition from her Chinese heritage to find her path in a free, figurative style, often tinged with references to contemporary Western art. Her painting is robust and subtle, harmonious and invigorating, fluid yet condensed into forms around a central theme—without referencing the semi-abstraction practiced in Chinese calligraphy.
Admittedly, she is not afraid to reference her models with both strength and delicacy, yet she sometimes leaves them in a studied blur, in the sense that she first submits them to the filter of her inner vision. She is a profound thinker and a reflective artist whose thoughts constantly govern the impulses of her brush.
This is what is documented in Zhu Linjing’s young career: each canvas traverses a range of emotions. There is much modesty and simplicity, and above all, an atmosphere, a presence that conveys more than promises.
— Gérard Xuriguera (Art Critic)
Zhu Linjing explores a rich diversity of styles to express her feelings. If calligraphy stems from her cultural DNA and expressionist figuration gives form to her emotions, abstraction now represents a major avenue for her talent. A thoughtful and deeply spiritual artist, she embodies an artistic bridge between the Orient and the Occident, weaving a unique link between China and France.
— André Fernandez (Independent Curator)
As an easel art, oil painting exists primarily through color – whether expressed on canvas, paper, or mixed media – this color always assuming a compositional form. In the works of Zhu Linjing, this color-form relationship operates simultaneously on three levels: as sensory perception (the perceptual), as rational structure (the cognitive), and as spiritual or divine embodiment (the transcendent). These three dimensions coexist in her canvases, simultaneously engaging the senses, intellect, and soul of the viewer. Whether perceived immediately or through prolonged contemplation, they ultimately fuse into what might be termed an intellectual synthesis – the most distinctive characteristic of her art, and perhaps its greatest strength.
The artist has acknowledged in her writings the influence of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. In my observation, this influence is manifest and consciously assumed – she has even systematically studied existentialist philosophy and phenomenological theory, an intellectual approach that appears rare among Chinese painters to my knowledge. This influence extends beyond painting technique to penetrate deeply into the artist’s mind and soul.
Zhu Linjing embodies an exceptional combination of extraordinary diligence and unique vision – an artist who has persistently pursued a highly self-aware artistic exploration with consistent success. Her modest appearance contrasts with the brilliance of her work, which undoubtedly promises a significant artistic future. Her practice is rooted in deliberately assumed philosophical and aesthetic perspectives, encompassing the philosophy of art and religious philosophy, constantly developing unique personal insights into visual language, maintaining a sustained painting practice that fuses abstraction and figuration, and pursuing with clear direction the complete fusion of thought with oil painting to create her distinctive modernist artistic identity.
She devotes herself to painting with the commitment of religious practice and loves art as deeply as one loves nature. In her work, sensibility and rationality become inseparable aspects of the essential nature of oil painting – an absorption so complete that it approaches total self-transcendence.
— MA Xiangwu (Literary Critic)
With iconic simplicity, Zhu Linjing’s abstract visual language conveys a universal message: true sight means looking inward, not seeking happiness elsewhere. Her work evokes a profound process of creation, recalling Saint-Exupéry’s adage that “what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
— Maria-Teresa Prestigiacomo, Italian Art Critic
The oil painting of Zhu Linjing, one of the rare contemporary female artists dedicated to this practice, is characterized by precise and elegant colors, in which chromatic beauty plays a primordial role. Color occupies a fundamental place in the formal construction. Her creative process, both technical and aesthetic, is one of great rigor. Her pictorial method is based on rigorous composition and a respectful mastery of technical traditions. Her work bears witness to a constant search for innovation and visual balance, aiming at the perfect integrity between form and color. She places particular emphasis on the rhythm of the image and explores the rich connotation of the relationships between form, color, line, and texture.
— JIN Shangyi : Chinese Artist
