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Lot Essay
Li Huayi’s artistic practice underwent drastic changes from the 1970s to 1990s – from traditional Dunhuang-inspired figure paintings, bold collage works featuring Chinese characters that resonate with propaganda posters, experimental and abstract landscape such as the current lot (Lot 826), to his iconic monumental landscape (Lot 827) that Li continues to develop to this day.
Upon arriving in San Francisco from Shanghai in 1982, Li Huayi studied at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco where he was exposed to Post-War American art practice and theories. In Abstract Houses, one can easily recognise foundational elements that clearly echo the artist’s later signature works – splashed ink and colour, collage to create mountains in three-dimensionality, rock and mountain textures created by rubbing technique that sharply contrast with the background, and trees painted in white paint as they stand on vertical cliffs to form a dramatic composition. As such, Abstract Houses offers a rare glimpse of Li’s bold experiment on techniques, materials and colours in the 1980s, directly influencing Li’s later signature landscape works that would distinguish him as one of world’s leading ink artists.
Upon arriving in San Francisco from Shanghai in 1982, Li Huayi studied at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco where he was exposed to Post-War American art practice and theories. In Abstract Houses, one can easily recognise foundational elements that clearly echo the artist’s later signature works – splashed ink and colour, collage to create mountains in three-dimensionality, rock and mountain textures created by rubbing technique that sharply contrast with the background, and trees painted in white paint as they stand on vertical cliffs to form a dramatic composition. As such, Abstract Houses offers a rare glimpse of Li’s bold experiment on techniques, materials and colours in the 1980s, directly influencing Li’s later signature landscape works that would distinguish him as one of world’s leading ink artists.