Beginning in 1996 with the digital synthesis of his BioArt project Restructuring, Li Shan’s artistic practice underwent a radical pivot toward a scrutiny of the intrinsic logic of life. Using living materials and the principles of genetic engineering, the artist constructs works that transcend the boundaries between species. This allegory of the longing for interspecies fusion is further manifested in his series Reading and Unfolding.

In the ten-meter monumental work Reading (2002), Li Shan shifts the biological laws of “cutting” and “restructuring” from genetic engineering to the format of a card game. Patterns of Ye Zi Pai (LeafPorker) from the artist’s hometown Heilongjinag are incorporates into the composition. These ancient northern cards are only the size of a leaf, their narrow, elongated surfaces interlocked with symbols of gaming. An object that once circulated as a mundane pastime in the streets and between the fingers is here forcibly stretched by the massive scale of the canvas. Dragonflies are grafted onto the torsos of tigers, and translucent wings sprout from human shoulders. A leopard-like silhouette lurks within chaotic motifs; disparate species have long since achieved a seamless chimerism, diffusing organically like proliferating cells. In the presence of these reconfigured beings, the artist appears to be conducting a long, obsessive ‘reshuffling’ of existence. Wrapped in a palette of playful innocence, the work aligns the fleeting luck of a card game with the unpredictable nature of evolutionary mutation, turning genetic research into a vibrant display of chance.

If the Reading series presents symbols of mutation, Unfolding marks a profound return to the underlying logic of life within Li Shan’s research. At this stage, the artist is no longer content with the simple representation of biological morphology. Grounded in the structural norm of chromosomal ‘folding,’ the artist seeks to ‘unfold’ and flatten the genomic double helix, transforming biological information into an open text for reading, writing, and editing.

While reading, skipping, misreading and mispronunciation are inevitable. However, for Li, these are indeed the most appealing and meaningful. While Reading dwells in the realm of perceptual chance, Unfolding gathers those moments of intuition and tucks them into the fold of rational inevitability. Rigorous biological logic is no longer an exclusive, ironclad law; instead, it has evolved into an open order that accommodates individual experience. This shift validates the editability of life and its perceptual potential for being rewritten.