Leah Lihua Wong

Leah Lihua Wong was born in Qingdao, China. In 1985, she received her BFA in Oil Painting from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou (now China Academy of Art). In 1999, she was an independent graduate student at The Ohio State University. She earned her MFA in Painting Department from Ohio University in 2004. Currently, she works at Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

As an undergraduate, Leah studied with internationally celebrated abstract artist Zao Wou-ki. She taught at Shanghai’s Donghua University and Shanghai Theater Academy before moving to the USA in 1993. Since 2006, she has been represented by Sherrie Gallerie in Columbus. Her paintings and installations have received many awards, being exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions in the USA and China. Her works are found in numerous private and corporate collections in America. The artworks are featured in magazines, reviewed by many newspapers and online media.

In 2011, the Asian Art Archive in Hong Kong documented her involvement in China’s contemporary art movement. In 2015, she was invited by the Power Station of Art, the national contemporary art museum in Shanghai, to participate in the exhibition Calligraphic Time and Space: Abstract Art in China. The Power Station of Art museum added her paper installation to its permanent collection.

As a child, Leah loved to draw and learned traditional Chinese paper-cutting. When she was a graduate student, she had encountered many questions in her paintings. She evaluated her artistic directions with cultural perspective. Histories, traditions and her cross-cultural experiences and influences have come an ongoing negotiation in her art-making process.

Her current work has evolved from traditional drawing and paper-cutting. Across different media, her work explores the transformation of volume, void, light and shadows. The sense of open-ended lines and space create a dialogue between cultures and concepts.