Dan Jian deftly employees painting, drawing, and animation in her work. In 2021, she moved away from figurative-abstract painting to focus exclusively on the medium of collage where every component of the image becomes part of a meditative, very detailed process. Inspired by the format of personal scroll paintings, where the movement of time is compressed without the feeling of an end, Jian’s works highlight ephemeralness.  

Jian’s Cell Series installation includes elements of collage and various drawing techniques to depict seemingly unrelated images. At times the individual images engage with one another or float independently in a sea of translucence. Shunning the conventional means of presenting works on paper, the artist constructs presentation devices that engage the unique spaces and constantly transform the works as the light of the day shifts with time.

Originally from the mountain region of Hubei, China, Dan Jian came to the United States at the age of nineteen. She received her BFA from Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University and an MFA from The Ohio State University in 2016. Dan is an assistant professor of art at Texas Christian University while maintaining an ongoing studio practice in Fort Worth, Texas.

Generously sponsored by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, McGinnis Family Fund of Communities Foundation of Texas, and Kathy Webster in memory of Charles H. Webster, with additional support from Jay & Barbra Clack, Joe & Susie Clack, Jenny & Rob Dupree, and Dr. Larry Wolz