We are proud to present, for our fifth exhibition of work by Li Huayi, a group of eight paintings using either gold or silver. This is not the first time Huayi has used gold in his work. In 2010, for the exhibition Trees, rocks, mist, and mountains by Li Huayi which we held at the Ukrainian Institute in New York, Huayi employed a plain but large pair of six-fold Japanese gold wedding screens as the ground for his ink rendering of two monumental pine trees.

Huayi's large works are invariably wonderful but require large spaces and it was felt if they could be made on a smaller scale they would be accessible to more collectors. To create smaller works, like those featured in the current exhibition, Huayi developed and refined new gold and silver leafing techniques in collaboration with traditional Japanese craftsmen.

What remains irrespective of scale however is Li Huayi's ability to bridge between centuries— between the storied traditions of classical Chinese painting and the urgent, searching spirit of contemporary art. His landscape paintings evoke the ethereal grandeur of Song Dynasty masters, yet they are unmistakably modern in composition and psychological presence. At once intimate and vast, his landscapes invite viewers into spaces that transcend the physical, evoking a sense of timelessness, solitude, and spiritual depth.

In presenting this body of work, we offer a window into Huayi's ongoing dialogue with history, nature, and self. In his work, we find not merely a revival of literati painting, but one that acknowledges that ink, in the right hands, is not a relic of the past but a living, breathing medium capable of expressing the complexity and mystery of time.

I would like to thank my father for his enthusiasm and support. I would also like to thank Sarah Wong for checking all is correct and Dr Ling Zhu for translating texts and captions into Chinese.

For more information please head to the Eskenazi website.

Tagged 03/11.