Blue planet ARX LEE (LI CHAOXIONG)

BUMI Series

“Bumi” for Li Chaoxiong is a little dreaming astronaut, who symbolises attachement to the world of childhood that we refuse to leave. This is a new project on which the artist has been working for years. A tireless worker and traveler, Bumi is more mature than Bilibi and less anguished than Buda. He always seems to know where he anchors but without a destination, as drifting in an endless dream. By exploring the universe beyond the confined world, Bumi (“Bumi” means “the land” in Sanskrit), like a Buddhist monk, endlessly moves forward into a universe in constant evolution. Closing eyes, he learns to communicate with the others by listening to their feelings and his own heart, rather than by seeing, because sight is easily distracted or corrupted.

In his works, Li Chaoxiong unfolds before our eyes a journey, a metaphor for life as a travel in which the destination is less important than the path we take. With the image of serenity that Bumi exudes, the artist invites us to contemplate his adventures and to listen to our hearts.

EXHIBITIONS

- FANTASTIQUES/Collective exhibitions, Galerie LOFT, Paris, France 2017

- CIGE 2016,Artist project, Beijing, China, 2016

- Solo Exhibition, K Projects, Beijing, China, 2016

PUBLICATION

- "Voyageur des rêves", Catalog of paintings and drawings from the Bumi series. Shenzhen, Chine 2017, P 71.

ARTIST

Li Chaoxiong, alias ARX LEE, is a Chinese artist who was born in 1978 in Zhongshan, Canton. In the end of 1990s, he begun to present his early works in group exhibitions in Canton, Beijing and Japan (5th International Exhibition of the Japan Art Academy in 1997). Hence, he started studying at Guangzhou Fine Art School and graduated in 2002. He is as well the author of two poetic and introspective graphic novels: Bilibi in early 2000s and Buda-Pest in 2010, the last one published in three languages and the theme of an exhibition at the Galerie Loft, Paris.

Since his childhood, the artist is immersed in the world of superheroes, cartoons and illustration. Developing his style in different artistic disciplines, such as painting, illustration, design, sculpture and photography, Li has gradually found his own language and mastered the codes of literary narration and of plastic and digital composition. Undoubtedly his unique painting style and figurative language are representative of what China has best to offer among the young generation.

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