Chinese artist focuses on nature and harmony in her first solo U.S. museum exhibition

By Richard Chang

Oct. 12, 2017 4 PM PT

Shi Zhiying makes a point of painting or drawing the Buddha at least once a day.

She’s a Chinese artist who’s having her first solo museum exhibition in the United States at the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) in Newport Beach. “Shi Zhiying” consists of about 18 works, mostly oils on canvas completed between 2011 and the present, and runs through Dec. 31.

One large piece, called “100 Buddhas,” is actually 100 individual portraits of the Buddha done in watercolor and ink on paper. Shi painted and drew these Buddhas between September 2011 and May 2012.

“I’m very interested in Buddhism,” said Shi, 38, a lifelong resident of Shanghai. “But in China, it depends. Some people just go to the temple and become vegetarians. I don’t live in the temple and I’m not a vegetarian. I believe what Buddha says in the Sutra.”

For “100 Buddhas” and other works, Shi approached her subject with the same medium and method every day, but each time, it came out a little different — at least in her mind.

“It’s like everyday practice. Each work has a date behind the piece,” she said. “Every Buddha is the same, but every day I painted it is very different. My state, my status was very different. Sometimes you will feel one Buddha is smiling, one Buddha is more serene or different than the others. So they’re not the same.”

Shi’s paintings are reflective, relaxed, repetitive and meditative.

They’re usually monochrome and achieved with hundreds, even thousands of brushstrokes. In addition to Buddhas, she paints rocks, beads, Zen sand gardens, crystals and oceans.

Her “Ocean No. 2” and “Ocean No. 3” (both 2014) bear resemblance to the works of Vija Celmins, an accomplished Latvian American artist known for her photo-realistic paintings and drawings of sea bodies, deserts, spider webs and starry nights.

One significant difference between the two artists would be their choice in medium. Celmins made her name using graphite pencil in her naturalistic works. Shi sticks to oil on canvas, even when she’s painting only black on white.

“Oil painting is more natural, more organic, more vivid,” said Shi, who graduated from Shanghai University’s Fine Arts College in 2005. “I took many pictures and then brought them back to the studio. Pictures can evoke my memory and feelings at that time. Every ocean painting — I took hundreds of pictures for it. And I use brushstrokes to express the ephemerality of things.”

Shi is no stranger to OCMA or its director, Todd DeShields Smith.

In 2014-15, she was one of 27 artists featured in “My Generation: Young Chinese Artists,” which Smith helped bring to the Tampa Museum of Art when he was executive director there. After Smith became director of OCMA, he brought “My Generation” to Newport Beach from June to October 2015.

Shi’s paintings “The Pacific Ocean” (2011) and “White Marble Figure of Buddha” (2013) were included in that group show. Another painting, “Rock Carving of 1,000 Buddhas” (2014-15), was recently purchased by the museum for its permanent collection, and is featured in this solo exhibition.

“OCMA has made its reputation by supporting emerging artists through exhibitions and acquisitions,” Smith said. “As the museum continues to turn its attention to the greater Pacific Rim in its programming, we are excited to introduce our audiences to engaging new talent from this international region.

“In particular, the opportunity to present the first solo United States museum exhibitions for artists such as Shi Zhiying and other Pacific Rim artists continues to set OCMA apart from its peers on the West Coast.”

For Shi, the opportunity to show her work at a U.S. museum (she’s represented by James Cohan Gallery in New York) is a great step in her career and a chance to gain some positive exposure — something every professional artist needs.

“I feel happy and excited,” she said. “I feel here in the process of installation, people have been very professional and very serious. I learned a lot from the installation.”