Nature, ruins, organic material taken from the flood of images to which this Chinese artist is subjected. Yet while these reeling visions may seem frenetic to us, Li Donglu does not live, does not perceive the scale of time like a mortal man.

Like a monk in full meditation, watching images in all different media bombarded around him throughout the day, Li Donglu takes in these long-lasting images and combines them with various noteworthy news events. He superimposes them and intertwines them to create enigmatic works. The oil paint, which requires a lengthy drying time, represents an airtight decompression chamber that allows time for reflection. The artist brings this nebulous quality to his works in order to grasp the spectator in his superimpositions, as if to stop the fleeting time.

His art is meditative, even therapeutic for some, yet the subjects he portrays carry the stigma of an upbringing which has conditioned us to consume more and more, faster and faster, until exhaustion and destruction. We only need to follow the path of the artist and find our bearings in this space time, a second-wind, a glimmer of hope.

Text courtesy A2Z Art Gallery.