1929, Guangxi, China–1994, Carlisle, England

Immigrated to the UK in 1968

Li came to London after living in Taiwan and Italy. After spending time in the capital, he settled in rural Cumbria, where he remained for the rest of his life. In these two works, he pushes both language and visual perception to their limits. By impressing and marking the paper with small circular forms, he brings together East Asian calligraphic practice and Western sculptural thought, guided by what he termed the ‘Cosmic Point’. The absence of ink, with patterns formed only through impressions, gives equal weight to absence and nothingness as to presence. As Li noted, such works offer ‘an even greater freedom of movement’.

William Allen Collection