Li Jikai, was born in Sichuan province in mid-1970s, graduated with MFA from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2004, and currently works in Hubei Institute of Fine Arts. He often participated in exhibitions and art fairs domestically and abroad in recent years, which had obtained wonderful reflection. The solo exhibition in Today Art Museum this September is a kind of return exhibit after 2008. This time he brings the entirely new works since 2008, attentive audiences can feel the subtle changes of the artist’s emotion in the process of creating.

      Upon closer appreciation of his work, we can easily sense the state in spirit and mind of this young group – The Ego Generation – predominantly in its mood of solitude, loneliness, confusion, autism and egocentricity. It’s as if he withdraws from the turbulence of the outside world, becoming a spectator of life, observing dynamic society indifferently. Perhaps fully aware of the difference between the realistic world and the realm of his heart and mind, he turns more to analysis and interpretation of his own psyche. In a “painterly linguistic” way that is similar to Surrealism, the personal inner world that he has painted is often odd, absurd, sad, distraught and impotent.

      Li Jikai’s paintings clearly do not only have a resonance with the young people of his generation, they also win the favor of audiences of different ages. The universality does not stem from the popularity of the subject, nor from the pursuit of some common principle, but rather from a kind of existential condition, or perhaps an indescribable life posture, if you will.