Connoisseur Contemporary is proud to present its second solo exhibition of the year, of contemporary Chinese female artist Li Shurui.  Born in Chongqing, China in 1981, the 29-year-old art star graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2004 and has quickly risen to be one of the most prominent female contemporary artists of her generation.  While considered young in her artistic career by international standards, Li has already exhibited in various cities within China; held a solo show in the Long March Foundation in Beijing, China, in Korea and participated in Art Basel Miami.

Few Chinese female artists of her generation have received as much attention and international exposure as Li Shurui, and this is no surprise when one views her works.  Her solo exhibition is a show of her obsession towards the subject matter “light” and defies current contemporary Chinese art trends.  Instead of the usual “pop art” or “new pop art” that dominates the genre in contemporary Chinese art, Li simply follows her passion and captures the abstract concept of lights and colours in her works.  Her mostly large-scale paintings are powerful and visually magnetic – not only because of their size – but also her excellent technical ability to transfer her ideas onto canvas.  Her earlier works – based on real photographs as reference – depict silhouettes of human figures lost among neon lights and her more recent ones portray a mesh of colours that both contrast and harmonise.

The solo exhibition will take place over two art galleries, in collaboration with Connoisseur Art Gallery.  Visitors can expect several highlights in this show.  Departing from Li’s usual use of strong shades of predominantly red and blue, her new works have a myriad of colours; each carefully chosen and harmoniously blended together to create striking compositions that is visually unforgettable.  Most of the works are in a large format, some with a form of mirror symmetry which creates a perspective of depth, and heightens our appreciation for lights and colours as well as our visual sensory experience.

Li’s compositions are created with the air brush and the artist is considered to be one of the best artists using this technique in China right now.  Since 2005, she has astounded critics, collectors and audiences with her highly charged paintings on the subject of lights, creating immersive images which seem to engulf our visual senses with their power.  The two dimensional painting surface develops a three dimensional effect in Li’s works, as the lights seem to expand into our space and have a vibrancy of viewing light in reality.  Li’s minimalist canvases are exuberant and uplifting, and bring audiences to a new level of appreciation of light and colour.