Pastel Journal - USA (2020-04)

BY MCKENZIE GRAHAM

Portrait

& Figure

CATEGORY WINNERS

FIRST PLACE

Jia Wei

Although Jia Wei, of Beijing, China,

enjoys participating in the historic

tradition of painting self-portraits,

he considers each of his works to

be self-reflective in its own way.

“I think the self-portrait is a worthy

genre,” he says. “Master artists, such

as Van Gogh and Rembrandt, have

painted self-portraits, but in my

opinion, no matter what you draw,

you draw yourself.” Most of Wei’s

works are self-portraits, portraits

or figures. “I like to draw people and

paint from life,” he says. “Many of

my works are about people and the

scenes around me.”

Figure & Portrait Category Juror

Cuong Nguyen picked up on the

historical references in Wei’s win-

ning piece, Self-portrait. “I think the

artist has successfully combined

classical art with a modern sensibil-

ity in his self-portrait,” Nguyen says.

“There are many factors that make

this a winning painting: a powerful

composition, a beautifully muted

color palette, translucent skin tone

and especially the artist’s expression.”

The color palette is mostly thanks

to Wei’s habit of working in front of

the mirror. He finds that the colors

are far better than what shows up in

a photo, although the background is

simply the color of the paper. The art-

ist uses Yicai sanded paper, produced

by the Ming Gallery of Art.

Wei, who’s also an architect,

struggled with what to include in the

Self-portrait (30x20½)

by Jia Wei

62 Pastel Journal APRIL 2020