Tianbing Li treads the line separating two dramatically different worlds: the China of his ancestral past and the China of the present. “I feel impelled to do this: all artists have a need to distance themselves from the world they live in to facilitate conditions conductive to reflection – otherwise they die”. The motivations underlying all of Li’s work are best characterized by an ongoing dialogue between old and new, between ancestral and modern, between the realities of China, on the one hand, and those of the European continent on the other.

“I created this series of canvases using ancient Chinese painting as a model. Each piece is composed using ancestral techniques.” However, as one approaches the work it becomes evident that Li’s content is contemporary. The blacks, whites and browns traditionally used give way to a modern palate – an allegory for the influences of western culture on present day China. Li’s images echo this theme: plants become parts of human bodies, insects transform into toys and other industrial products. “In an ironic fashion, I express in my paintings what is taking place in China today, where long-held traditions are little by little being eroded by the invasion of a consumer society and it is becoming subsequently, a world submerged in desire and yearning”.