李智堅 (zhijian Li) Jay Li
旅加畫家zhijian Li ，1985 畢業于廣州美術學學院教育系。藝術創作以油畫力主。1987在附中就讀期間，深受嶺南早期油畫大家們的影響，他一直致力於東西方藝術異同比較與探索，1989年出國游學，先是澳洲，然後到了歐洲文明的發源地希臘，最後定居在加拿大渥太華。「失而復得系列」是他在過去三十年探索的成果，他拒絕用照片工作，他選擇了半抽象这一在中国巳植千年的传统述事方式，畫家在花大力氣打進西方藝術同时致於融合东方的遐思。在畫家與畫布之間通過對「舊物」如打字機的對話，展現畫家個人對當今世界快速變化中帶來種種異化現象的憔慮和反思。
Jay Li’s Artist Statement: Finding my standing point between Realistic and Abstract Painting.
Study in China
My passion for painting started in childhood. I was enrolled in the Middle School affiliated to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1978. I spent the following seven years in that academy, where I was influenced by the ideas of the respected scholar Zhaomin Wang. He believed that “form is everything”, and in his painting attempted to introduce the spirit of oriental literate painting onto the foundation of the art of Paul Cezanne
Study abroad .
When I studied in the Academy, I got to know some descendants of the masters of oil painting in China. Their perspectives on western art had a profound influence on me: they emphasized that to learn the art of western painting, one must see the original works. Thanks to an opportunity in 1990, I got the chance to study in Greece. When I stood before the splendid and exquisite sculptures of ancient Greece, I felt the joy and worship of “the human being” in their culture, the source of European civilization. At the same time, I started paying attention to the abstract expressionism movement in the United States.
Working in Canada
I moved to Canada in 1998. In Canada’s modern multicultural society, without the burden of ancient history, I feel more free to pursue my art. I have started some experimental semi-abstract painting but also practise sketching in the studio provided by the City of Ottawa. One of my purposes in painting is to explore the geography and interplay of space and form on a two dimensional canvas. Space should be part of form, forms grow out of space; they should not be clearly identifiable and separate entities.