Born in Tianjin in 1958, he graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of Tianjin Academy of Fine Art in 1983 and is currently an associate professor in the same department. In 1996, he participated in the “New Ink Art exhibition” at the Berlin Museum and the “First Invitational Exhibition of Chinese Paintings” at the National Art Gallery of China. In 2000, he participated in the “Grand Exhibition of New Chinese Paintings” at the Liu Haisu Gallery in Shanghai and the Jiangsu Gallery. He has held many solo exhibitions all over the world and his work can be found in many galleries and private collections. Li Jin sees art and life as intertwined and each stroke of the brush is full of the joy of the senses – particularly the happiness found in food. He says that artists must create new thought for themselves, be their own greatest critics and constantly strive to improve their technical abilities if they want to live a normal life.