Zeng Lingxin. (China B. 1983 ) "My happy baby-Jade Eye". 2008.
Oil on canvas. Size: 67in x 59 in (170 x 150 cm).
This work is unframed and in excellent condition.

"My happy baby-Jade Eye" is a major oil painting by one of the top emerging Chinese artists working today, Zeng Lingxin. Her oil paintings, such as this, all explore the relationship between the desire and fantasy of material wealth and status, namely opulent jewels that are painted in stunning detail, with various young women depicted in miniature in direct contact with the jewels. Here a floral shaped diamond and ruby brooch is depicted in detail, upon which a young woman sits, her eyes closed with joy, the rows of stunning polished jade beads from this expensive necklace fills the composition, as do several more images in miniature of young women. The depiction of the jewels in grand-scale, and as the main subject of the painting underscores that although these young girls desire material wealth and status, such desires are 'larger than life' for the younger generations in China. In turn, each woman is depicted in a markedly different manner from one another depicted both as individuals and also as caricatures, representing their 80's generation to which the artist belongs. All of these young women from different walks of life all here believe that "diamonds are a girl's best friend". In turn, this is not just a pretty picture, but a socio-economic commentary on the massive amount of wealth that the new billionaires in China now possess, and how disparate the economic status is becoming in China.

The artist was born in China in 1983 and in 2007 graduated from Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Academy of Fine Art, Chongqing. By the year she graduated her paintings her already in three museum shows in China, in 2007 including "Strong Emerging Artists Exhibition", Doland Museum;
"Three Art Academies' Artists", Zendai Art Museum, and "Animamix: From Modernity to Eternity", MoCA Museum, Shanghai China. In 2008, her work was part of the traveling exhibition "Young Asian Artists - Part 1", that went to the Asian Art Foundation, in Hong Kong, Beijing and Indonesia. The same year her work was included in group shows "Exhibition of Artists from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts", Today Art Museum, Beijing and at The Shanghai Art Fair.