L I N L I N G   L U

Artist, Chinese American, b. 1983

For more than 15 years, Linling Lu has been focused on creating circular abstract paintings with concentric rings of color. Her human -scale tondos have been described as inducing states of meditation, color therapy, and “music to the eyes.” Her curiosity and approach to music as a painter was first inspired by American artist Georgia O’Keeffe and the landmark publication Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1912) by painter Wassily Kandinsky , who taught at the Bauhaus school from 1922-33. The depth and intensity of color in Lu's paintings are also influenced by the Washington Color School painters, including Kenneth Noland, Frank Stella and Morris Louis. In addition to her colorful, circular abstractions, Lu's work includes sculptures of interlocking wood blocks, various shaped paintings, and mixed media works that incorporate traditional and contemporary textiles sourced from across the globe.

Lu received a BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and an MFA from LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting, MICA. Her work has been exhibited at The Phillips Collection, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, Sotheby's Institute of Art, The Delaware Contemporary, Delaware Art Museum, American University Museum, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kohl Gallery at Washington College, Maryland Art Place,Towson University's Center for the Arts and the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Lu's artworks are in the permanent collections of The Phillips Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art, Johns Hopkins University, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Microsoft, Louis Vuitton, Capital One, Accenture, CityCenterDC, 1700 Broadway in New York City , Carl M. Freeman Foundation and the Embassy of the United States in Beijing , which was commissioned by the U.S. Department of State. Lu has been featured in The Washington Post, BmoreArt , East City Art, Modern Luxury, Home & Design, House Beautiful and Washington City paper. Linling Lu is exclusively represented by Arting Gallery since 2024.

“Think ... of the musical role color will henceforth play in modern painting. Color, which is vibration just as music is, is able to attain what is most universal yet at the time most elusive in nature: its inner force .” —Paul Gauguin, 1899

“Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on mid -noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens .” —Ralph Waldo Emerson , from the essay “Circles”, 1841