Mulan 2018

Kexin Di painted this portrait of Mulan with oils and a controlled palette of reds and browns. It’s really about mark-making and building up layer upon layer to give a sense of depth and shadow. I’m interested in the texture of the background here, how the artist uses a dry brush technique to suggest a landscape, or a battlefield, perhaps. It’s quite thinly painted, in contrast to the rich, almost velvety folds of the red robe. Above her head, the sword hovers, rendered with precise detail. It creates a tension in the piece, a sense of impending action. You know, it reminds me of some of those Renaissance portraits, where objects are included to allude to the sitter’s character or story. It could be a nod to earlier masters, like Titian, who understood how to use color and composition to tell a story. For me, art is about embracing ambiguity. It's about recognizing that there are multiple ways of seeing and understanding a single image.