* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Lu Cong is a contemporary American portrait artist. He is regarded by many as one of the most distinctive young artists to recently emerge from the American West. His paintings center on the faces of his carefully chosen subjects. His style pays homage to 18th Century Romantics, yet is unmistakably conceived in and relevant to the contemporary era. His portraits do not simply capture the physical and emotional state of the subject but rather they establish the complicated psychological interactions that ensue when one comes face to face with the sensual, inexplicable, and unsettling.
"Lu Cong's paintings are stunning. The photographic clarity makes the subjects feel real and almost nightmarish so familiar and so unsettling. All of those wonderful cool colors create an otherworldly beauty and tranquility. It's exciting when portrait paintings offer something so totally new and unexpected."
"Stunning. I think it's those eyes - those skillfully painted soft, sad, beautiful eyes that completely pull me in to all of Lu Cong's work. Gorgeous."
"Having a unique approach to portraiture is not easy to accomplish yet Lu Cong does it flawlessly. While the subjects are contemporary the haunting expressions evoke a distant past. Not to mention how beautiful they all are."
"I don't know Lu personally, but I have seen his work for a while, I remember some early darker pieces of his that were amazing, and this newer work that he is doing is just as awesome, he really is evolving. Hie tones, values and edges are incredibly inspiring and all of his works are well orchestrated I'm super fortunate to see a lot of his work in person whenever I stop in on Gallery Henoch here in NYC. I'd love for him to have a solo exhibition there!"
