06/22/2026
Everyone Wants to Be Someone Else
King and Crown
Acrylic and Oil on Canvas
40.6 × 50.8 cm
2026
Li Xu’s recent paintings examine the instability of identity through staged figures and fractured spatial constructions.
Neither the clown nor the king occupies a fixed position. They function instead as projections—images of desire, authority, and self-invention.
The crown becomes less a symbol of power than a device of performance.
Identity remains suspended between what one is and what one imagines oneself to be.
ChineseContemporaryArt Painting ArtCollector ArtGallery NewYorkArt VillageOneArt