Artwork Description

Title: Positioning
Artist: Li Baoxun
Date: 2013
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 140 x 94.5 in (140 x 240 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
Positioning (2013) is a monumental diptych that captures a crowd of anonymous figures in blurred motion, rendered in a monochromatic palette of greys, browns, and blacks. The brushwork alternates between gestural abstraction and representational suggestion, with faces deliberately left indistinct. This deliberate anonymity creates a scene of spectral formality, as the subjects—clad in business attire—drift through what appears to be an institutional interior or gallery space. The Title: invites reflection on identity, place, and social role.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Baoxun Li draws from a lineage of existential figuration and social realism, inflected with contemporary concerns. His painterly style echoes postwar European influences—particularly the emotive blurring and psychological atmospheres of Francis Bacon and Gerhard Richter—while maintaining the restrained palette and solemnity typical of East Asian ink traditions. The merging of individual and environment through soft, sweeping brushstrokes embodies his interest in alienation and interiority.

3. Historical Context
Created during Li’s transition from character-based series to scenographic compositions, Positioning reflects his broader concern with modern identity amid the complexities of Chinese urban life. Painted while pursuing his MA at the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, the piece captures the psychological conditions of a post-industrial society—where individuals appear together yet remain dislocated. The work responds not only to the artist’s immediate cultural milieu but also to global questions of conformity, social structure, and existential orientation.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact

5. Condition and Conservation
The painting is in very good condition, with no signs of canvas distortion, pigment instability, or damage. The surface presents the artist’s intended textural richness and tonal subtleties without deterioration.

6. Artistic Significance
Positioning stands as a seminal work in Li Baoxun’s early oeuvre, encapsulating his transition from individualized portraiture to collective social commentary. Through its ghostlike figures and subdued palette, the work articulates a profound meditation on human presence and societal role. It exemplifies the artist’s ability to use formal restraint and psychological nuance to create visual poetry from the everyday, affirming his position as one of the most intellectually incisive painters of his generation.