Hua Jing Li
Painter based at Wimbledon Art Studios, London.
My art practice started at the age of three. I was enrolled in an art school in Shanghai as a way to channel my fear of blood and lack of interest for medicine (from infancy, my dear mother, true to her Shanghainese-ness, attempted to encourage me into the medical practice).
Working in acrylic medium on canvas, my paintings are shared spaces where audiences inhabit and co-create narratives. Drawing from my drama studies at Royal Centre School of Speech and Drama, I utilise diagonal lines throughout the composition to cultivate an immersive experience. So the audience constructs the broader scene from their imagination, making the narrative a unique experience for each individual.
There are no glaring or clashing colours within my paintings, instead I intentionally select analogous colours (colours adjacent to one another) to rest the mind. So it is quiet and calm, free to pause and ponder.
Outside of my art, I have happily meet the Love of My Life.
The Studio Space
An Art Heritage
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
My father was a marine engineer by profession, but his passion was black and white photography. He turned his Shanghai university dorm room into a makeshift darkroom, developing his own prints between engineering lectures.
And cycled through China before its rise as a global superpower, documenting a nation in transformation.
His muse was my mother. There are a stack of photos taken during their courting days.
Exhibitions
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Medina Roma, Rome Italy, 15th - 21st May 2026
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Wimbledon Art Fair, 14th -17th May 2026
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Milan Design Week, Artemida Gallery 2027
The Story Behind Anping Edits
Anping is my rescue dog and the name behind everything I do.
She came into my life during the pandemic, in Shanghai, at a time when I had lost both my grandmothers within ten days of each other. I was grieving, and quietly withdrawing from the world. She was timid, found in a compound, waiting to be chosen. Her name, given by the woman who rescued her, means safe and sound — 平安, píng'ān, reversed. In a way, we found each other at exactly the right moment.
She edited my life. Filled it with people, with walks, with belonging. She made Shanghai feel like home.
I named my art business after her because that is what I hope my work does for you offers a quiet place to land. A moment of softness in an otherwise busy world.