“The Stars”, which was formulated in the year 1979 by a group of artists who wanted freedom of creation, is acknowledged by many art historians as the root of Chinese Contemporary art history. Among the group members, Li Shuang was the only female founding members in “The Stars”. Other members include artists such as Wang Ke Ping, Huang Rui and Ma Desheng; writers such as A Cheng and Bei Dao. They all have shown immense courage and eagerness to fight for the freedom of artistic creation. Although “The Stars” was forced to dissociate, the forward-thinking mentality and valour of its members contributed enormously on the development of today’s Chinese Contemporary Art. During Li Shuang’s life, her relationship with the former French diplomat, Emmanuel Bellefroid, was threatened and she was kept in solitary confinement for two years. In 1983, after two years of confinement, she arrived in Paris and married Emmanuel Bellefroid. Now living in Paris, Li Shuang spends six to seven hours on painting everyday, for painting has always been an enjoyable and important part of her life. 

The classical and religious elements of Li Shuang’s portrayed female figures
Li Shuang mainly explores female figures and flower petals as her artistic topics. Nevertheless, her female figures and flower petals are not drawn in a luxurious or provocative manner. Many viewers would relate Li Shuang’s female figures to Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva who holds a lotus with a harmonious and peaceful affection. Indeed, many Chinese and French art critics have pointed out that Li Shuang’s work contains a tint of religious light and the essence of traditional Chinese beauty. Li Shuang, however, indicates that although she does not have any religious belief, she agrees with the teaching of Buddhism. She believes that Chinese traditional culture has a very strong influence on her work and her conceptions.

Whilst Li Shuang’s female figures have generous countenances giving the viewers a feeling of serenity and warmth, the background of the figures is decorated by arising or floating haloes, flower petals and bamboos portraying a glow of spiritual radiance. Li Shuang believes that Chinese art is a spiritual creation taking place internally in one’s heart. Chinese paintings speak of ‘the heart’ whereas western paintings focus on ‘the scene’. They present what one sees in a different way. Li Shuang’s style is a Chinese way of depiction.

The different stages of Li Shuang’s artistic creation
Looking back at Li Shuang’s art for the past twenty years, her artistic style experienced three major developments. The first stage can be dated back from 1980 to 1983 where she mainly created oil paintings and lithographs. Topics would encompass an internal space with a depiction of female figures, windows and chairs. She especially liked to use red hues on her paintings. The second stage started from 1984 to 1994 when she has already resided in Paris. Many of her art pieces were created by a collage of fragmented papers and oil paintings. The work would usually present a struggle of human bodies being closely held to each other. Lastly, from 1995 onwards, her third stage includes some of the elements which she experienced in the first stage. Her topics, again, encompass the idea of female figures, windows and chairs; though her techniques have changed dramatically. She focuses to paint the faces of the figures without emphasizing the torso. The patterns and backdrop merge well with her foreground figures, evoking a harmonious and peaceful ambience.

Li Shuang often depicts women with small, well-shaped mouths, long noses, pretty slanting eyes and oval faces. The facial expression and gaze of her depicted faces seem to highlight the portraits with a spiritual dimension. Recently, she is keen on using haloes and a string of digits or letters to enhance the silhouette of the figures, producing an outstanding juxtaposition which triggers the viewers to reflect the subject matter and their relations.

The pursuit of freedom of artistic creation
With the glorious colors and elements of tranquility, Li Shuang's paintings uniquely depict a feeling of peace and harmony in life. She does not use heavily contrasted colors but chooses to use a fading shade of color palette, creating an effect of timelessness. The figures in Li Shuang's paintings seem to speak of ontology. This may be an influence from Li Shuang's views on embracing art with the union and extremity of yin-yang. She believes that artists should use their heart to retrospect on the relationship between the world and them since art should be the most honest seed of reflecting in a spiritual world. Hence, in her paintings, Li Shuang expresses her genuine concept of beauty at all times.

From 1979 onwards, Li Shuang has participated in both national and international exhibitions for more than forty times. Many of her art pieces have been collected by Musée d’Epernay, France; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan and many more. The publication "Shuang" is jointly created by Li Shuang and A Cheng and published by Taiwan UNITAS in 1999. In this exhibition “Far From the Madding Crowd”, 20 pieces of Li Shuang's recent paintings will be showcased.