Today we’d like to introduce you to Kai Lun Qu.
Hi Kai Lun, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I immigrated with my parents from China shortly after I was born and grew up in San Francisco, California. Being raised in an artistic family, my parents had me send back to China after graduating junior high and I was then placed in the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts High School in Beijing; being taught the 19th Century Russian Academic methods in drawing.
I traveled back to the US to finish high school and it was there through being exposed to galleries and museums that I started gaining inspiration from artists such as John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, and the contemporary living master Richard Schmid.
A few months after I decided to give oil painting a try, I was fortunate enough to be enrolled into the Palette Project program, a free scholarship workshop program started by Daniel Keys at the Scottsdale Artist School. It was there I was able to study under Daniel, as well as other amazing painters who has been an inspiration to me to this day, some of whom includes Tim Rees, Michelle Dunaway, and Josh Clare. I graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Arts.
I started teaching in 2015, sharing my craft of drawing and oil painting techniques with the wider masses. After graduation, I moved back to California and started up my very own Atelier, teaching 19th-century French academic techniques to a wide range of students of all levels. My goal is to spread the technical knowledge of drawing and painting to as many as possible in order to preserve, maintain and continue the tradition of representational art.
In 2022, after getting inspired by artists at comic and anime conventions, I made the decision to infuse my traditional oil painting techniques and my love for pop culture media to build a bridge and interconnect “Fine Art” and “Fan Art”. I wish to demystify oil painting and make it more accessible to the general masses in the fan art community while at the same time, open up dialogue on how any subject matter, even fan art can be worth painting to the fine art community. Since then, I have made oil paintings for a variety of clientele, including Square Enix and Marvel.
I am currently contributing as a Pro Team Artist for Trekell Art Supplies, Mentor for Sentient Academy, Member in The Circle of Gamblin Artists + Educators and am on the main faculty for the VisionX Global Art Conference. I’m based in LA and teaches workshops around the area.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I definitely would say it’s not the smoothest road, but in terms of the stars aligning in the favor, it has actually been quite a fun and interesting journey. The biggest challenge that I have had in my career is the drive to continue pursuing representational art at the beginning, where it was very hard to find people I can connect with during my time in school. I felt that I was the only one really interested in exploring and investigating the techniques of realism. The school that I was attending was very much a modernism school that encouraged students to pursue other creative methodologies instead of the one I was interested in. I found myself venturing outside of school a lot in pursuit of the type of artistic training I was looking for, sometimes even cutting class to take a greyhound bus up to places like New York and Philadelphia just for painting events where people who shared the same passion would gather. Since I had no money to pay for actual classes, a way I was able to study was to venture into open model painting sessions, sit next to the best person in the room, and then begin to visually take as much as I can by observing them painting.
I continued this practice well into the later years of my college and it really helped me not only attain many different ideas on techniques but gave me insights on creating beautiful paintings. Since graduating, one thing I have noticed was that I began going through creative dry spells where I dedicated all my time to teaching and it sucked away a lot of energy I had to maintain a build-up of personal work. It was only during the pandemic that I started creating more works for myself, posting them on social media and developing a bit of a following. Through that, I was introduced to Trekell Art Supplies and Sentient Academy, whom I am a member of their Pro Team and Mentor respectively. Recently I felt even more of a spark of inspiration and energy towards my work again after discovering the possibilities of incorporating pop culture icons as subject matters within my paintings. Ever since then, I worked for clients such as Marvel and Square Enix. I feel that I will have what some would consider a clear career road because of the nature of what I do but I am excited to see where my career will be headed next.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Some may or may not know that when I am not painting and teaching, I am dancing! Ever since I was in middle school, I loved Michael Jackson’s music and dance. It really resonated with me the fact that you can move so effortlessly, embodying the music with your body. I began imitating his movements and fell in love with the art form. Since then during my free time when I am not in the studio, I have been participating in many dance events, cyphers, battles and classes. The style of dance that I landed on loving to do is a Street Dance Funk Style called Popping, which was also the foundation to Michael’s dance.
Since moving to LA, I have been fortunate enough to study under some of the most influential poppers and animation dancers in the world including but not limited to, my current teacher JSmooth, as well as Tabo, Boogie Frantick and Popin Pete. The world of street dance has been so generous and kind to me and it serves as a great reminder to be humble within your craft, no matter what it is. Every time I feel stuck in the studio is when I would go out to dance and it not only has been a great physical creative outlet, it really allowed me to appreciate the history and culture of the art form.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kailunqu.com
- Instagram: @kailunqu
