By Phoebe Bradford
Li Hei Di's Oblivion blest at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery
At 27, Li Hei Di is the latest rising star to join Pace Gallery, who represent her alongside Michael Kohn Gallery and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. The latter bring her luminous large-scale painting, Oblivion blest (2024), to Frieze.
Rory, who visited Li in her studio last year, was smitten by both her art and her personality. 'She is heavily influenced by Chinese literature and film, as well as her sexual identity. She's definitely one of the most exciting young painters working today,' he said.
'The erotic ambiguity of my paintings feels like I'm capturing a ghost of something not quite abstract, but not quite figurative either,' Li told Ocula in 2023. 'This ephemeral style permeates my work and grants me space to navigate stories of repressed desires and provocation,' she added.
