Painting the woman in red

www.sylviajiart.com

Artist Silvia Ji's "Red Crow"

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Jordan Aman, Staff Writer
March 2, 2010
Filed under Arts

At 27 years old, San Francisco native Silvia Ji has created a blend of intensity and beauty that is both provocative and macabre.

Through her highly technical work, Ji creates an emotion in the faces of her subjects that makes the viewer wonder.

On the outside, Ji’s work portrays beauty and sexuality, but upon further inspection, the viewer finds that there appears to be a dark secret in the eyes of the subject.

Ji has a fascination with the facial paintings of El Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, and uses such designs in numerous paintings, such as Catrina (shown bottom right), to create an effect that is both haunting and beautiful.

Her inspiration comes from both symbolic representations of herself as well as “a landscape of decaying beauty,” says Ji on her website.

Ji’s use of color is as important to her paintings as the subject. she typically uses a fairly high contrast color and lighting scheme.

Her use of deep reds and bright yellows not only create a passionate feel, but also set the mood for such paintings as Red Crow, where the woman pictured adopts a look both mischievous and secretive.

The dramatic mood is set by the use of these intense colors, so as to better portray her intention and concept within the piece.

Another theme within Ji’s work is her use of victorian hairstyles and flowers shown to not only make for an interesting piece, but to comment on beauty in the current life and times.

The old fashioned hairstyles and beautiful headdresses are an homage to beauty in the victorian era. This is a big difference from the common fashion trends of today.

As a young artist, just out of art school, Ji has become incredibly successful, and has really made a name for herself in the art world.

She has already had multiple solo exhibitions and numerous shows across the nation.