Cai Jipin was born in 1947 in Tieling City, Liaoning province. He began studying art on his own at the City Youth Palace and later by correspondence through the Qingdao City Art School, Shandong Province. During the Cultural Revolution, he was assigned to teach painting at a farm school and then was placed in charge of stage design for the city art group. 
From 1978 to 1986, he served as a professional painter at the Tieling City People’s Art Exhibition Hall. In 1985 he was accepted as a member in the Chinese Artists’ Association. From 1987 to 1989, the artist worked at the Dalian City People’s Art Center where he studied under French painter Clause Evir. His work has been reproduced in numerous Chinese art periodicals and is a part of the permanent collection of the National Art Museum of China, Beijing. On April 12, 1989, Cai Jipin was reported missing and has not been heard from since.
Still Life, Cabbage and Projector, 1987
Oil on Board
71 1/4" x 22 1/4" x 1" (181 x 56.5 x 25.4cm)About this work
In this trompe l’oeil piece, Cai Jipin has expertly reproduced a common cabinet found in his apartment which also serves as his studio. The tools of his profession — a slide projector, folded easel and stool, a roll of film and tubes of paint — share space with everyday household necessities: cooking utensils, vegetables and spices, a lock and a set of keys, and a small bottle of pills. The cabinet is actually made of two wooden boxes set end on end. A makeshift curtain presumably keeps dirt and dust from the food stored there. The painting, considered a still life by the artist, was produced in 1987. Ten years earlier such a subject would have been considered frivolous.
