Title
Round
Ink on rice paper
29 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches
Estimated Value Range:
$2,500 - $3,500
Starting Bid: $1,250
Bidding increments: $250
This work was presented in Qian Li’s recent solo exhibition at Erie Art Museum, Summoning the Wind. Using dyed rice paper, the artist creates a hypnotic layering of forms that harken to essential components of nature: womb, sun, and galaxy.
Li is an internationally recognized multimedia artist whose work explores the delicate balance between opposing forces—stasis and change, the private and the public, memory and lived experience. Drawing from her upbringing in a coastal village in Qingdao, China, and her life raising a biracial family in the United States, Li creates paintings, prints, videos, and installations that blend cultural perspectives and emotional depth. Her creative vision is often rooted in dream imagery, where memory and metaphor intertwine.
More:
Qian Li
Artist Statement
“My work is a visual visualization of my abstract, and sometimes hauntingly real dreams. While dreams oftentimes tend to be random, repetitive, and purposeless, they can also reflect thoughts in a colorful, more primitive and pictorial form. I see dreams as a more truthful and vivid representation—a metaphor in a reality and the study of the human psyche.
My childhood years in the hospital, my traditional Chinese family environment, and that turbulent period of China all contribute to my dreams. My dreams become a desperate world, full of mental and physical pain, anxiety and restlessness, running and hiding. They are largely driven by the desire to love and to be loved, the desire for peace, and the balance of life and death.”
Biography
Born in Qingdao, China, Qian Li received her BFA from the Central Academy of Art and Design (now the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University) in Beijing, and earned her MFA from UMass Dartmouth in Massachusetts. She is currently a full professor at Cleveland State University.
Li works across multiple media, including painting, digital print, video, interactive installation, and mixed media. She has exhibited widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia, with exhibitions in Germany, China, Brazil, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, and beyond. Her work has been featured in numerous art publications and included in permanent collections in both the U.S. and China.
Collections and Awards
Li’s work is included in several permanent collections in the United States and China. She is a two-time recipient of the Individual Excellence Award and grant from the Ohio Arts Council (2008 and 2015), recognizing her artistic achievement and contributions to contemporary art.
Bio: Born in Qingdao, China. Received BFA from the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University in Beijing. MFA at UMass Dartmouth in Massachusetts. Qian is an associate professor at Cleveland State University.
