The delicately rendered and deceptively simplistic still lifes of
Ling, aka Don Xin Xu, belie this exceptionally accomplished artist's
years of struggle, intellectual dedication and perseverance in her native
China. Born Don Xin Xu, the eldest child in what would prove to be an
exceptionally accomplished artistic family, Ling's childhood would seem
to have placed her at a distance from artistic exploration. Removed
from her family at age nine and forced to work on a farming cooperative
during the Cultural Revolution, Ling, like so many other young Chinese
of the time, grew up without formal schooling. The daughter of a librarian,
Ling knew the value of education and training. Undeterred, she found
secret refuge in the radio, snatching clandestine moments to listen
to illegal western news broadcasts and sitcoms in English. Ling was
a remarkably self-taught student and when the Cultural Revolution ended
nearly ten years later, she parlayed her rudimentary English skills
into academic training as an English teacher.
It can be said that Ling's intellectual veracity as a child was only
matched by her artistic imagination. Recalling her childhood before
her forced exile, Ling reflects on her passion for drawing and painting,
creating elaborately imaginary worlds. "My mother and father were
really quite open to a little girl's creativity," says Ling. "Something
quite unheard of in those days."
While studying to become an English teacher, Ling returned to her
first passion--painting--and has not looked back. After years serving
as an English instructor, Ling, with the encouragement of Slaymaker
Fine Art Ltd, turned professional artist. She also paints under her
given name. She says about her pseudonym: "After my father, Ling,
died, I wanted to honor him in some way. He was such a uniquely wonderful,
encouraging man. I decided there was no better way to do so than by
taking on his name as tribute."
Ling's lyrical still lifes are testament to the powerful effect of
sophisticated understatement and reserve. Painted in acrylic, from raw
pigments she mixes herself, Ling's paintings are a seamless fusion of
western and eastern painting styles. To achieve her results, Ling lays
down a flat background color, then works the paint to create texture,
adding slightly different hues, and drips and dribbles. She then begins
the effortless work of rendering the still life objects, always in flattened,
almost abstract like qualities that give her paintings the eloquence
they so effortlessly exude.
Slaymaker Fine Art Ltd has been introducing to great acclaim Ling's
work to international private and corporate collectors for nearly ten
years.
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