Li Hei Di, The Unforeseen Flooding the Abyss (2023). Oil on linen. 169.8 x 149.8 cm. Courtesy the artist and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles.
Li Hei Di, Unquenchable Laughter, Inescapable Desert (2023). Oil on linen. 189.8 x 149.8 cm. Courtesy the artist and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles.
Li Hei Di, As I Die I Would Like to Hold (2023). Oil on linen. 65 x 57.4 cm. Courtesy the artist and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles.
Li Hei Di, As I Die I Would Like to Hold (2023). Oil on linen. 65 x 57.4 cm. Courtesy the artist and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles.
Li Hei Di in her London studio. Courtesy the artist and Michael Kohn Gallery. Photo: Kai Shui.
Young Chinese painter Li Hei Di has joined Pace Gallery.
The mega-gallery will represent Li in conjunction with Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London. Li will present a new painting at the gallery’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach this December and her first solo exhibition with Pace in Hong Kong next year.
Li Hei Di’s paintings present an entrancing interplay between recognisable forms, such as limbs and torsos, and abstract shapes. Her luminous coloured canvases shift between figurative and abstract, opaque and transparent. This ambiguity is core to her artistic approach.
‘The erotic ambiguity of my paintings feels like I’m capturing a ghost of something not quite abstract, but not quite figurative either, Li told Ocula in 2023. ‘When my friends see my paintings, they often immediately see sexual imagery even though I didn’t actually try to feature anything specifically sexual at that time. My friends know the way I am, so they over sexualise parts of my painting.’
‘On the other end of the scale, there are some people who are oblivious and believe it’s just a pretty landscape painting,’ she said. ‘I find that aspect of my practice really amusing.’
At 27 years old, Li is just the latest young talent to be scooped up by a mega-gallery. Earlier this month, David Zwirner announced the representation of 26-year-old Sasha Gordon in collaboration with Matthew Brown. While debut shows of young painters George Rouy (30) at Hauser & Wirth, and Heemin Chung (37) at Thaddeaus Ropac will open during Frieze this October in London.
Main image: Li Hei Di in her London studio. Courtesy the artist and Michael Kohn Gallery. Photo: Kai Shui.
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