The Silence of Pines on Remote Peaks, Li Huayi

Exhibition Label:
“An Elegant Gathering: Selections from the Collection Honoring Dr. and Mrs. Li,” Feb-2009, Kris Ercums
Trained by the Belgian-educated painter Zhang Chongren张充仁 (1907-1998), Li utilized his painting skills to make posters during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). However he grew tired of socialist realism, and in the late 1970s set out to find new sources for his art. After moving to San Francisco in 1982, he was inspired by the expressive “ink splash” painting of Zhang Daqian (see this gallery). However, after viewing Early Spring by Guo Xi at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, Li turned to Song painting for inspiration. In this work, he combines the monumentality of the Northern Song period with the intimacy of the Southern Song art.

Exhibition Label:
“Transformations,” Feb-2006, Mary Dusenbury and Alison Miller
Li Huayi’s visionary landscapes are complex. They reflect the artist’s academic training in Western art but refer primarily to the Chinese artistic tradition, particularly the stately grandeur and sense of life-force or qi of Five Dynasties (907-960 CE) and Northern Song (960-1127 CE) momumental landscape painting.

Archive Label 2003 (version 1):
In 1982 Li Huayi moved from Shanghai to San Francisco to study contemporary art at the San Francisco Academy of Art. Although his training had been interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, Li had studied both traditional Chinese painting techniques and European academic drawing in Shanghai and had travelled widely throughout China studying works of art in situ. In 1989 he attended an exhibition of Northern Song (960-1127) paintings at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. Confronting such major works as Fan Kuan’s Travelers Among Streams and Mountains and Guo Xi’s Early Spring profoundly influenced the young artist who returned to San Francisco to immerse himself in an intense period of study and experimentation.

Li Huayi’s visionary landscapes incorporate multiple references to the Chinese artistic tradition, most notably the stately grandeur and sense of life-force or qi of Five Dynasties (907-960) and Northern Song monumental landscape, the sparse elegance of Ni Zan’s (1301-1374) brushwork, and the visionary realism of Wu Bin (active 1568-1626). At the same time, Li’s work also incorporates the compositional drama of abstract expressionism, the structural strength, rhythm and melodic beauty of compositions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) whose music often fills his studio, and the tenacious force of the keenly observed windswept coastal evergreens outside his window.

Archive Label 2003 (version 2):
Li Huayi's visionary landscapes, such as The Silence of Pines on Remote Peaks, are complex. They reflect the artist's academic training in Western art while referring primarily to the Chinese artistic tradition, most notably the stately grandeur and sense of life-force or qi of Five Dynasties (907-960) and Northern Song (960-1127) monumental landscape paintings.