Li Hei Di, She Says Her Love Is Big, Like She Loves Wind; Like She Loves Trees (2023). Oil on linen. 169.8 x 120.6 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, Wet Salted Heat of Your Cheek (2023). Oil on linen. 169.8 x 149.8 cm. Exhibition view: Li Hei Di, Oscillating Womb, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles (2 November 2023–6 January 2024). Courtesy the artist and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles.
Li Hei Di, You Bleed in this Very Room (2023). Oil on canvas. 114.9 x 160 cm. Exhibition view: Li Hei Di, Oscillating Womb, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles (2 November 2023–6 January 2024). Courtesy the artist and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles.
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, 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‘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.
Ending a remarkably busy year for the young Chinese artist, Li’s debut solo exhibition in the U.S. opened at Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles on 2 November. Titled Oscillating Womb, the exhibition is on view until 6 January 2024.
Speaking with Ocula Advisory in 2023, Li explained, ‘The erotic ambiguity of my paintings feels like I’m capturing a ghost of something not quite abstract, but not quite figurative either. This ephemeral style permeates my work and grants me space to navigate stories of repressed desires and provocation.’
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