Zhao Bandi graduated from the oil painting department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, with his “first oil painting studio” becoming renowned for its meticulous realism. Zhao remained unaffected by the surge in avant-garde experimentalism during the late 1980s and early 1990s, opting instead for his own unique style of social realism. He deliberately avoided themes of “exotic romanticism ” so fashionable in the college system at the time, preferring to venture into direct portrayals of everyday life. With precise and restrained brushstrokes, he depicts familiar, narrative scenes from his own life, scenes which at first glance seem commonplace, but upon closer inspection are spaces of private tranquility.

Zhao completed Girl Applying Lipstick in 1987 whilst still at university. The painting depicts a quiet scene from an ordinary, lazy summer afternoon; a girl casually sits on a sofa, looking into a makeup mirror whilst applying lipstick, sunlight dapples the floor of the room in the background, the scene is completed with a man reclining on the bed reading a newspaper. As a representative of a new generation of artists, Zhao Bandi used his extraordinary painting skills to depict and analyze the phycological and cultural state of contemporary society, whilst adding a touch of romanticism in passing. Looking back on the creation of this work, Zhao comments that: “this was sketched from life, though nothing within the painting changes like it does in real life, not even the calendar. It encapsulates an entire summer holiday, in it I have painted the memories of my youth.”

(Edited by Lijie Wang & Miao Zijin, 2019)