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Lu Cong’s New Portraits Blend Tools, Textures

Lu Cong is known for his striking portraits, whether rendered in oil, watercolor, colored pencil, or all three. His latest work toys with form, blending textures, tools, and styles to create evocative pieces. The artist was last featured on HiFructose.com here.

Lu Cong is known for his striking portraits, whether rendered in oil, watercolor, colored pencil, or all three. His latest work toys with form, blending textures, tools, and styles to create evocative pieces. The artist was last featured on HiFructose.com here.


“Lu’s style pays homage to 18th century Romantics, yet is unmistakably conceived in and relevant to the contemporary era,” the gallery Quidley & Company says. “His portraits do more than simply capture the physical and emotional state of the subject; they establish the complicated psychological interactions that ensue when one comes face to face with the sensual, inexplicable, and unsettling. Today Lu is considered one of the distinctive young artists working in the American West.”

The Shanghai-born artist came to the U.S. as an 11-year-old, later studying biology at University of Iowa and then humanities at University of Colorado before embarking on his career in art.

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