\u201cThe art committee and I asked Li to be part of the Zack Gallery exhibitions over a year ago,\u201d said Sarah Dobbs, the gallery\u2019s curator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHis talent, the way he handles the surface of the paper and the themes that we felt resonate with the Jewish community were the primary reasons for selecting him for a solo show,\u201d she said. \u201cThe way he works \u2013 using ink, rice paper and mugwort water, which stains the surface before the image appears \u2013 reflects his deep skills as an artist. This was the primary pull for us to exhibit him. In addition, the water residue acts as a form of embodied memory, recalling the imperative to remember \u2013 the surface carries what cannot be seen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHis practice emerges from absence, where the creation of each piece is a gesture of repair within fracture, like a quiet form of tikkun, a concept found in the Zohar<\/i>,\u201d she explained. \u201cPainting is how he wrestles, remembers and remakes meaning. So, the conceptual nature of his work, combined with his skills, was a no-brainer. The committee and I just immediately voted him yes!\u201d<\/p>\n Li and his wife, Jiamin, came to Canada in 2024, settling in Oshawa, Ont.<\/p>\n \u201cI like the food here \u2013 so many Asian groceries,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cBut language is hard for me. It\u2019s always been so, even before we came here. Language has always felt too thin. The words seem to flatten what I feel, while images allow it to remain alive.\u201d That\u2019s why he asked his wife to act as his interpreter during his interview with the Independent<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Li\u2019s road to the arts was not simple.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy father is a petroleum worker,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so was his father before him. It is traditional in China that a son follows his father\u2019s work. It is a good job, with a decent pay, and it was already arranged for me after I graduated, but I didn\u2019t want to do it. I always felt like an outsider in my family. I didn\u2019t want to know my future for the next 50 years. I knew it wouldn\u2019t make me happy. I wanted to do art. I wanted to be free in my choices.\u201d<\/p>\n That was his first rebellion, his first step against the established routine, but not his last.<\/p>\n \u201cI was about 13 at the time\u2026. By Chinese tradition, children of artists who follow their fathers into art start their artistic training at 6. I was already too old, but I needed to do it. Otherwise, I felt that I had nothing of my own. Fortunately, I had a good art teacher at school,\u201d said Li, adding with a grin: \u201cAnd I became popular with my classmates.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n His next step upon graduation was the Academy of Fine Art in Xi\u2019an, one of the largest cities in China, with an ancient history and a long artistic tradition. The famous Terracotta Army, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located just outside the city. The Xi\u2019an academy is considered one of the best art schools in China, but Li didn\u2019t like his time there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere was no creative freedom,\u201d he said. \u201cThe professors were rigid, wanted me to copy them, to follow their instructions without thinking. It didn\u2019t work for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Once more, Li went against the established mode. He quit the academy and found a job to support himself and his wife. He worked with social media while teaching himself to be an artist.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople thought I was crazy to quit,\u201d he said. \u201cMy parents wouldn\u2019t help financially \u2013 they didn\u2019t approve of my actions. Besides, they were getting a divorce. And I was already married \u2013 we met at the academy. Jiamin was also a student there.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When COVID struck, the young couple experienced the restrictions that were placed on people worldwide.<\/p>\n \u201cWe became all isolated, had to stay at home,\u201d Li recalled. \u201cBut we watched lots on the internet, especially YouTube videos. In China, the world internet is not available \u2013 it is illegal there to access YouTube or Google or Facebook. Chinese people have their own limited internet version, allowed by the government, but many young people ignore those restrictions and download apps to watch the real internet. We did too and we learned a lot. We could finally see for ourselves how the world worked. We decided to emigrate to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n Canada was a revelation to Li. \u201cI\u2019m free here,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To make ends meet, Li works for a delivery company, but, in his spare time, he continues to paint and learn, and his art evolves. When he lived in China, his themes tended to be narrow, tied to certain events or ideas, but his latest imagery explores more complex issues of identity, memory and resistance.<\/p>\n \u201cArt has become my emotional refuge as well as a method of self-liberation,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It also allows him to process his inner tension and vulnerability, as he struggles for personal and creative autonomy. His large painting \u201cUnderground World,\u201d finished in the past month, is symbolic of his current trend of using traditional Chinese motifs and media to address contemporary and universal topics.<\/p>\n The painting looks like a collage, denoting the artist\u2019s inner journey; many aspects intertwine and contradict one another. Family history versus personal fragility. Government direction versus private uncertainty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI am not searching for villains. I am dismantling systems,\u201d Li says in his artist statement. \u201cI refer to structures that appear normal: family control, humiliation disguised as education, and forms of care that carry hidden violence. Tragedy most often happens not through cruelty, but through what is socially justified, well-intentioned and unquestioned.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As for his life in Canada, Li said, \u201cI\u2019m thinking of taking some art classes here. There is so much choice, so much freedom for an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n Structures of the Unsaid is on display until April 13. To learn more about Li, visit his website, yongzhenli.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mar-27-VA.27.Yongzhen-Li-UndergroundWorld2.jpg\")
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