A common impression “Lego” often pops up when someone first saw Otto Li’s works; especially some of his works with vivid colors and young people love them with such resonance of childhood toys growing up. With further reading details and seeing other works, then another new term “pixel-ize” perhaps will appear, like puzzle up an object built by blocks of pixels. Li’s works often remain in ordinary subject matters, things he likes and he is surrounded by in everyday life. Many of his works are related to soccer and video games, which are some of his favorite interests. Although it is always something very ordinary, he has been consistently trying different approaches and experimenting with various materials to present some “ideas”. Pixel and Lego are just forms of presentations, but the artist is trying to develop something “virtual” into a physical condition by “de-forming” and then “re-forming”.
"Actually my works are inspired by the images we see every day and what’s happening around us every day. However, when people see or read images, they tend to focus on the content instead of how the image is formed, generated, or the meaning, technology (imaging technology) behind it." - Otto Li
Born in 1980, Otto Li was raised and educated in Hong Kong. Experienced several years of concept artist in a CG animation company after obtained B.A. Fine Art degree, later on he returned to Chinese University and completed his M.A. Fine Art in 2012. Since early 2000, Otto has been actively participated in numerous exhibitions and earned several awards. In 2012, his works were selected in to the “Hong Kong Eye” exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, London, one of the most important art galleries in the field. In the same year, Otto also received the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial Awards 2012.
Image: © Otto Li, EC Gallery