Artwork Description

Title: Love Corner
Artist: Li Xiaoqi
Date: n.d.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 78.7 × 39.4 in (200 × 100 cm)
(Two portrait canvases mounted together at a 45-degree angle)

1. Artwork Identification
Love Corner is a striking dual-panel composition by Chinese contemporary artist Li Xiaoqi. Executed in oil on canvas and mounted at a dramatic 45-degree angle, the work presents a theatrical encounter between a gentleman in formal attire—top hat and boutonnière—and a coquettish lady fanning herself. The format transforms the painting into a corner installation, adding spatial and psychological tension to the depicted moment of intimate exchange. With expressive brushwork and a limited, near-monochromatic palette, Li conjures a scene that is both nostalgic and charged with symbolic undertones.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Li Xiaoqi’s style is rooted in expressive figuration, with gestural brushstrokes and painterly abstraction conveying emotional nuance. His approach shares affinities with post-Impressionist and Expressionist traditions—echoing the theatricality of Toulouse-Lautrec and the emotional immediacy of Egon Schiele. The dramatic lighting and stylized features recall the psychological portraits of modern Chinese contemporaries, though Li’s own visual language remains singular, fusing Western painterly devices with narrative motifs drawn from Chinese popular culture and personal memory.

3. Historical Context
Emerging from the post-1980s wave of Chinese art education reform, Li Xiaoqi trained at the prestigious Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts—an institution known for cultivating artists who blend technical virtuosity with contemporary experimentation. Love Corner is emblematic of early 21st-century Chinese art’s engagement with themes of identity, nostalgia, and performativity. The era saw increasing interest in installations and hybrid formats, and Li’s angled composition reflects this push beyond traditional two-dimensional presentation, aligning with the aesthetic strategies of Huangjueping’s vibrant contemporary art scene.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The canvases are well-stretched and structurally sound. The painted surfaces are stable with no apparent losses, cracking, or discoloration. Minor scuffing may be present due to the format's sculptural nature, but no conservation interventions are currently required.

6. Artistic Significance
Love Corner stands as a compelling example of Li Xiaoqi’s capacity to stage intimate psychological dramas through painterly means. The unconventional angle of presentation invites viewers into a voyeuristic space between the two figures, enhancing the narrative tension. Positioned at the intersection of portraiture, installation, and theatrical tableau, the work expands the boundaries of traditional oil painting. Li’s unique voice within the Chinese contemporary art milieu continues to attract critical and curatorial attention, and Love Corner is an exemplar of his ambitious, interdisciplinary approach.