By: Maya Barillas Mohan, Staff Writer
From September 1 to 29, 2026, a new arts exhibit at Richmond’s Lipont Gallery will be displaying the works of Richmomd-based artist Junyi Ji. A Life in Plein Air “advocates for the irreplaceable value of painting from life,” with paintings created throughout last year. The Peak reached out to Ji for exclusive insight on what it means to be an oil painter capturing the splendor of nature in an increasingly hurried, digital environment.
A Life in Plein Air “advocates for the irreplaceable value of painting from life,” with paintings created over the past year.
Metro Vancouver boasts a unique environment where “city streets and nature are almost the same thing — you look down a city street and see mountains or the ocean right in the background,” said Ji. According to Ji, endless inspiration exists around us, we just have to slow down to see it. Ji “resist[s] the pressure to rush and consume visual information too fast,” by using traditional oil painting methods requiring focus and appreciation for the world around him.
The paintings in Plein Air are rendered from scenes Ji experienced firsthand. “Plein air” refers to a style of painting depicting the environment around the artist in real-time. “Unlike taking a quick photo or generating a digital image, painting takes hours of standing there, mixing oil colors, and making real-time decisions with my hands,” Ji explained. As a result, the works show “how [Ji] personally felt at that exact moment. It’s a slow, physical process that keeps the human element alive.”
This process takes enduring patience. “The scene is always changing,” Ji reflected. But he doesn’t use the rapid changes of what he sees as reason to rush, staying in one spot for around four hours to notice every detail possible. “It helps me build a genuine connection with the place that a photograph simply can’t capture,” he elaborated. As he observes the natural environment, buildings, and local people, Ji’s work “document[s] and preserve[s] the subtle beauty of our current world.” He applies classical techniques from the “old masters,” to capture the fine details that make light, shadow, and atmosphere come to life. Some of Ji’s biggest inspirations are Diego Velázquez, John Singer Sargent, and Isaac Levitan. Ji is influenced by their “light, loose yet precise brushwork.”
Ji is drawn to “places where nature and light interact in a strong way,” and he focuses on “getting the true colours, light values, and overall mood of the day just right.” Vancouver is a prime backdrop for his paintings. In his painting Steam Clock, I particularly enjoy the familiar but dreamlike mood created. Soft brushstrokes capture monuments and the life around them. Buildings and nature “live under the exact same sunlight, weather, and atmosphere,” Ji told The Peak. His depictions of familiar scenery prod the viewer to remember they live under this atmosphere too. He imbues his own patience in each painting through delicate details that could be easy to miss if you don’t “[slow] down and pay close attention to [the] surroundings.” Steam Clock shows the subtlest gradation of light falling over a building, highlighting Ji’s style of patient painting.
This patience carries over from painting into Ji’s everyday life. For anyone that doesn’t paint, Ji recommends “setting your phone aside for ten minutes and just watch something simple, like light moving across a desk or shadows in a park.” These mundane settings become beautiful through Ji’s description because it is “amazing how much detail we miss when we’re constantly rushing.”
To take a look at Ji’s works for yourself, go to Lipont Gallery until September 29; the exhibition can be visited Monday–Friday, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., or by appointment.
