"Harmony" 25" x 32" Oil on Canvas      Lijun Yang is one of China's best-known women painters. A versatile artist, she chooses to concentrate on still lifes, done in both a painterly style and a highly realistic form. In many of her still lifes Yang draws from her Asian heritage and paints Chinese antiques, which are often depicted against richly colored fabrics. Her most realistic still lifes feature more designs, with objects seen against plain tablecloths, so the viewer's attention is riveted on the beautifully rendered objects that are the center of the composition.      Lijun Yang was born in Henan Province in 1968. Yang always knew that she wanted to be an artist, so she was able to begin her formal studies in Middle School so that she could compete for an invitation to attend the prestigious Central Academy in Bejing. Central Academy is China's most prestigious Art Academy and one of the oldest western-style academies, actually pre-dating the Chinese Revolution. Hundreds of well-prepared students from all over China compete for a seat in each Central Academy class. Yang won a scholarship to the Central Academy and began her studies there in 1993, graduating in 1996 with her Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts. Yang's works have been published in the Henan Pictorial Magazine and a number of other Chinese publications. Her works have been widely collected in China and abroad.