Lu Cong was born in Shanghai, in February 1978. He immigrated to the United States in 1989 at the age of 11. After graduating from the University of Iowa with degrees in Biology and Art in 2000, Lu chose to pursue portrait art over medicine. Lu has developed a distinctive look that many has regarded as an original approach to figurative realism. His portraits do not simply capture the physical or emotional likeness of the subject, rather they beckon to establish an authentic engagement – interaction that ensues when one comes face to face with the sensual, the inexplicable, and the unsettling.