Zhongkai Li

2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021

In Studio
About
CV

Other

The greatest virtue is like water, nurturing all things without competing with them.

—Tao Te Ching, Laozi

Return
watercolor on sewn canvas
11 ×18 in.

Underneath
watercolor on sewn canvas
14 ×22 in.

Yesterday, in green
watercolor on sewn canvas
14 ×18 in.

Waking up
watercolor on sewn canvas
11 × 30 in.

Working Process

My work often leads me into a flow state, in no particular order, simultaneously and spontaneously: drawing, painting, cutting, replacing, moving, laying, gazing, finding, collaging, sewing, staining, waiting. The colors shift in meaning as the daylight changes, often subconsciously.

I see the studio as a stage. The process is highly physical, engaging different parts of my body. I use brushes, sponges, and my hands directly on the canvas. My gestures follow how I feel at that moment. From the floor to the desk to the wall: looking up, looking down, looking straight, bending, moving, holding, pressing, pouring.

The process often continues until I am exhausted. All of it becomes part of the final work