Zhang Jie (China B. 1980). "Untitled (Self-Portrait)"( 2009) is an oil painting that is unframed and in excellent condition.

This dynamic figurative work is one of the most painterly and accomplished oil paintings to-date by rising star, Chinese Contemporary female artist Zhang Jie, that belongs to her critically acclaimed Series of self-portrait paintings. The artist paints herself in a palette based on mauves, lavenders and pinks, and depicts herself from the waist up, nearly nude, wearing just a bra that shows off her voluptuous figure. She gazes at us with overly large eyes and pouts with full bright pink mouth, posing conspicuously with arms raised above her head, tousling her hair. The powerful perspective and the luscious range of colors and brush strokes add to the sensual nature of the portrait. The content of all of Zhang's self-portraits are intentionally voyeuristic, seductively dreamy and aloof. The artist's unabashed desire to be gazed upon as subject and to at the same time to be revered as the artist sets up an emotionally intensity to the painting. Narcissism is an integral element to the Series, based on Zhang's desire to both anatomize and analyze herself "as a female artist, a woman and a human being" according to the artist. Her self-portraits provide an opportunity for the artist to intensely study herself, emotionally and physically, to see beyond the figure in the mirror and reveal her own internal soul-searching and explores her various roles, as a woman, as an individual, and as part of the larger anonymous 80's generation in China.

The artist received both her Undergraduate Degree in 2003 and Master's Degree in 2005 from the elite Sichuan Academy of Fine Art, China. In 2005, Zhang Jie was selected as one of the top 20 emerging Chinese artists at the Chinese Art Prize (CAP), by a jury of esteemed international art critics, including Gerard Goodrow (Director Art Cologne), Jeff Kelley (Curator of the Asian Art Museum in California), Isabelle de Wavrin (Co-founder and Co-editor-in-Chief of Beaux Arts Magazine), Dr Marion Ackermann (Director of the Art Museum of Stuttgart, Germany), and Li Lei (Executive Director of the Shanghai Art Museum), among others. Zhang Jie's first solo exhibition at Art Scene China in Shanghai was met with tremendous success. Her work has since been exhibited at shows in Shanghai and Beijing as well as in Europe and the USA (Miami, New York and Washington, D.C.) as well as at international auction.