Untitled 

Here, we have an untitled work by Li Huasheng, an artist born in China in 1944. We don't know exactly when it was made. It's hard not to think about the Cultural Revolution when considering Li’s work. Trained in the traditional literati style, Li was later made to denounce his practice. It seems to me that Li’s mature work, like this one, grapples with these tensions; the push and pull between the personal and the political. The rigid grid structure is juxtaposed with the organic quality of the ink bleeding into the paper. Li's work reflects a deep personal struggle to reconcile tradition with the revolutionary demands he faced. The emotional labor of this negotiation is palpable in the meticulous yet imperfect execution of each line. In the end, it’s this tension between the artist’s hand and the relentless grid that gives the work its power. It serves as a profound reflection on cultural and personal identity.