Artwork Description

Title: Lotus 2
Artist: Li Yan
Date: n.d.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 110 x 70 cm

Artwork Identification:
Lotus 2 features a dynamic and immersive composition of abstracted lotus forms, rendered in layered washes of greens, ambers, and burnt oranges against a moody dark background. The lotus pods, some in bloom and others decaying, stretch vertically across the canvas, suggesting both growth and impermanence.

Artistic Style and Influences:
Li Yan’s style in this piece echoes traditional Chinese botanical painting, yet it departs into abstraction through bold textures and expressive brushwork. The work exudes a tactile quality, with organic shapes and tonal variation reminiscent of ink wash painting infused with a modern, experimental approach to oil paint.

Historical Context:
The lotus is a revered symbol in Chinese philosophy and art, representing purity, enlightenment, and renewal. Li Yan’s interpretation emphasizes the complexity of this motif by presenting both vitality and decay in a single frame—mirroring themes of time, transience, and the cyclical nature of life.

Provenance:
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

Condition and Conservation:
There are a few small dents and faint abrasion marks on the canvas surface. Otherwise, the painting remains in very good condition. The overall structure is stable, and color retention is excellent.

Artistic Significance:
Lotus 2 deepens Li Yan’s visual exploration of organic life and philosophical symbolism. With its commanding vertical presence and rich textural interplay, the painting engages viewers in a meditative encounter with nature’s duality—resilience and decline, beauty and fragility.