Li Hou

Li Hou, Untitled, 2018, Ink and Colour on Rice Paper, 65 cm x 62 cm

Li Hou, Untitled, 2017, Ink and Colour on Rice Paper, 67 cm x 68 cm

Li Hou, Untitled, 2016, Ink and Colour on Rice Paper, 68 cm x 68 cm

Li Hou, Untitled, 2006, Ink and Colour on Rice Paper, 79 cm x 180 cm

Li Hou, Untitled, 2000, Ink and Colour on Rice Paper, 69 cm x 69 cm

Li Hou, aka Xiao Sun, born in Shanghai in 1938. As a child, Li Hou learnt Chinese calligraphy and painting from his grandmother Tan Zhixiao (niece of Tan Sitong, a well-known politician in Hundred Days’ Reform of late Qing dynasty) and his father Li Da (pseudonym Wu Wo). Later on he became a student studying Western oil paintings under oil master Yan Wenliang. Li’s traditional ink artworks were well-established by the 70s but that did not stop Li. He believes traditional Chinese ink art should make appropriate adaptations with the new era so he started modern Chinese ink creations and made remarkable breakthroughs in this regard. That was when he started to focus on modern Chinese ink creations and made remarkable breakthroughs in this regard.

During the 80s, Li was already well-known overseas. In the 90s, Li was invited to Germany and the U.S., and returned to China eventually. For more than 20 years, he has been traveling back and forth between the East and the West. Li detailed his experience as, “The artworks that I observed and studied in the process, brought some inexplicable changes to me”. He also interprets his artworks as “To brim with joy is to be carefree”. As a matter of fact, Li was one of the artists committed to new ink explorations since Chinese economic reform in 1978. By uniting his solid Chinese ink roots and modern abstractionism, Li’s works are an illustration of a robust grandeur and his personal sensuality. Other than Chinese ink paintings, Li practices Chinese calligraphy as well, inheriting the admirable qualities from the Southern and Northern, Sui and Tang dynasties.

Li has held countless exhibitions at locations such as Hong Kong Arts Centre, Shanghai Art Museum, Germany, U.S., etc. Currently, he resides in the suburbs of Boston, MA, and travels to Shanghai occasionally. He enjoys jazz, practicing calligraphy and painting, and continuing the pursuit of his unique art form as a true free spirit.