Before taking on formal studies in classical Chinese literature, poetry and landscape painting, Li Xubai was already creating art as a self-taught artist in Western painting. He soon developed his own style of painting landscapes as inspired by old masters like Gong Xian, although Li’s modern versions have no specific relationship to any geographical site.
His paintings are flat, usually created with dry brushes to project different densities and a pixilated effect that’s similar to digitised media. Poetry are usually inscribed on his paintings. While written in traditional Chinese literary and classical art patterns, these verses describe Li’s experiences about having his own cultural identity in a foreign land. (He moved to Canada in 1996 and now lives in Toronto.)
Li’s work is found in the public collections of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and the Chinese American Fine Arts Society and Asian American Broadcast Network in Boston. He was also included in the Hong Kong biennales of 1996 and 2003.
