(Coming) Exhibition “The Temperature of Solitude” – Li Jikai
The temperature of Solitude – A solo exhibition of Li Jikai
Opening: 15 May 2025, 16:00-19:00
Exhibition Period: 15 May – 5 July 2025
Oooit Art – Werkspoor International Art Center
Unit P, Nijverheisweg 27, 3534AM Utrecht
Solitude is the undertone of human existence – our fate and our constant companion. Whether in the bustling metropolis or the quiet countryside, it follows us like a shadow, quietly woven into the trajectory of every life. The painted world of Li Jikai is a gentle reflection of this fate. With brushstrokes both tender and profound, he captures fleeting emotions within everyday scenes, constructing intimate spaces for individual inner life. This exhibition, The Temperature of Solitude, explores the quiet, ineffable dimension of human emotion through a series of Li Jikai’s prints.
We first presented Li’s work in 2008 with his solo exhibition Walking Alone in Amsterdam. Later in 2014, his oil paintings, watercolors, and ceramics were shown at the Museum JAN. His visual language has always been one of restraint and depth – muted greys, soft blues, pale greens, and warm yellows blending into a low-saturation emotional palette. The prints in this exhibition, like his paintings, are imbued with a quiet and tender lyricism. The figures in Li’s work are often alone – lost in thought or gazing into an uncertain distance. They are not forgotten by the world; rather, they have chosen a delicate distance from it. This is not withdrawal but an act of inward exploration. In these images, we see a child’s contemplation, a young adult’s confusion, a middle-aged person’s quiet revelation. Their gazes hold stories unspoken, drawing us into a silent exchange.
Li Jikai’s works hover between reality and the surreal – grounded yet strangely transcendent. His characters occupy familiar settings – parks, rooms, streets, woods – yet these spaces are subtly displaced, held in suspension. Through distorted details, still time, and spatial ambiguity, he creates a visual experience poised between dream and waking life. Here, solitude is not merely an emotional state, but a philosophical inquiry: Who are we? How do we exist?
In this exhibition, solitude becomes not a burden, but a state to be cherished. It is a companion in life, and an essential part of self-awareness and growth. Through his unique pictorial language, Li gives solitude warmth, and gives silence an echo. We spend our lives in its company – it is not an unbearable weight, but a quiet and far-reaching presence. Within these works, we may find a new way to understand and embrace solitude – transforming it from a cage into a strength.
Li Jikai, born in 1975 in Chengdu, Sichuan, is a contemporary Chinese artist. He graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute with a Bachelor’s degree in 1999 and a Master’s degree in 2004. In 2020, he earned his Ph.D. in Fine Arts from the Chinese National Academy of Arts. He currently teaches at Hubei Institute of Fine Arts and resides in Wuhan. His works are held in numerous public collections, including He Xiangning Art Museum (Shenzhen), Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing), Today Art Museum (Beijing), Long Museum (Shanghai), MOCA (Singapore), Red Mansion Foundation (UK), Franks-Suss Collection (London), and many others across China.
Li Jikai has received several notable awards, such as the FIND Annual Art Award (2013), the “National Art” Gold Star Award from 2011 to 2012, 2014 to 2016, and 2018 to 2021, and the Baoxiniao Emerging Artist Award (2010). In 2004, he was shortlisted for the “Young Ambition – Chinese Emerging Painting Award” at He Xiangning Art Museum and the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In addition to his painting career, several bilingual poetry collections by Li Jikai have been published by Oooit Art.