“I’m not a painter.” Li Xin immediately announced. Faced with his works and this disconcerting affirmation, we can only wonder what he is. And what he does. “I make images. Painting is rather decorative. What interests me is to dialogue with the universe in the manner of the ancient Chinese scholars who sought harmony between man, nature, and the universe”. A way undoubtedly to point the brush on the first characteristic of his work, this surprising feeling of tradition and at the same time of great contemporaneity.
Li Xin continues the tradition by focusing on nature and water as its main subjects. In this way, it is part of the history of Shanshui, a style of Chinese painting that depicts landscapes, particularly mountains (shan) and water (shui).
Li Xin uses contemporary techniques that are different from traditional methods. He mainly practices two techniques: one involves working on canvas and the other on Xuan paper, where he creates a subtle range of greys.
For the canvas, he dilutes his oil paint with turpentine essence to make it very fluid. He then applies it to a canvas previously covered with a bright yellow background. This process brings out a splendid light from within the painting, which is both subdued and prominent.When working on Xuan paper, he uses very liquid Chinese ink. He explains: “I am more of a water than an ink artist. But since the water is transparent and cannot be seen, I am obliged to add a few drops of ink”.
Because the poetics of water remains the central subject of Li Xin’s work. The water of rivers, waterfalls, rocks, flows, and waves, allows contact and direct dialogue with the universe.
For the artist, water is also an ideal metaphor to talk about time: it evokes memory and the present, the past, and now, flowing time or suspended time. It is also a source of contemplation, meditation, reverie, and spirituality.
Contrary to what it may seem, Li Xin is not an expressionist. He exercises great restraint, enabling him to control the movements and flow of water, harnessing its natural force and gravity to create images by guiding the waves and allowing them to cover the canvas gradually. This approach also allows him to halt the ink’s progression guided by chance, intuition, and knowledge, precisely where he deems fit, ensuring the mass, balance, depth, and harmony are as accurate as possible. It’s a delicate balance of spontaneity and control.Li Xin appreciates precision. He doesn’t hesitate to use a magnifying glass to inspect the smallest details, looking inside the fibers of the paper, delving into it, and discovering micro-universes. The infinitely large and the infinitely small are within reach, a tangible sensation.