NOVEMBER 11, 2021. GRACE EBERT
“I Am What I Am” (2020), 120 x 100 centimeters. All images © Li Songsong,

Chinese artist Li Songsong (previously) obscures portraits and wider landscapes with thick dabs of oil paint. His textured, impasto works are based on found photographs or imagined scenes, and each conveys a narrative tied to ordinary moments or a broader shared history. Varying the extent of distortion in every piece, Songsong tells Colossal that interrogating personal identity is at the center of his practice. The “cultural and historical aspects are related to China, and the language and expressions are my own,” he explains.[…]

“Tea for Two” (2020), 210 x 210 centimeters

“You Haven’t Looked at Me that Way in Years” (2020), 170 x 280 centimeters

More: Impasto Layers Blur Portraits and Landscapes in Li Songsong’s Fragmented Oil Paintings