You are invited to the Opening Reception for "Ying Li: Hothouse" on Saturday, September 13, 5:00pm-7:00pm, at Valley House Gallery in Dallas, Texas.
"Painting cannot equal nature for the marvels of mountains and water, but nature cannot equal painting for the marvels of brush and ink." —Dong Qichang, Chinese calligrapher and painter, Late Ming dynasty
"The vitality in nature, the magical shapes, patterns, colors, and the fragility, vigor, luster of plants and flowers have been the biggest inspirations for my art. They are associated with the happy moments in the dark times in my life. As a young teenager in China I was fascinated by a reproduction of a flower painting by Matisse in a Soviet Union magazine my father owned. It was burned along with all my father’s books under an order from the Communist Party during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. They were considered Bourgeois and poison to the spirit of revolution at that time. I remember bundles of flowers my friend Wendy sent to the memorial service for my late husband Michael Gasster at Haverford College where I teach. I remember the bouquets my friends brought to my hospital room when I had a back injury. I remember daffodils, peonies, roses, lilies, all kinds of shrubs blooming with unstoppable force on a closed campus at Haverford College during Covid-19 Pandemic. I painted them at different locations throughout the campus, and with all my energy and concentration I got through it all."
"Painting nature, and painting in nature, has given me purpose and joy during those difficult times, and it has continued ever since. The mystery is not in inventing a work of art but in discovering nature's secrets, appropriating them, distilling their essence, and capturing the resonating energy of the natural world on canvas."
—Ying Li, 2025
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Born in Beijing, China, Ying Li studied painting at Anhui Teachers University (1974-77) where she taught (1977-83) before immigrating to the United States in 1983. She earned an MFA from Parsons School of Design, New York, in 1987. Li has taught at Haverford College since 1997 and holds an endowed chair as The Phlyssa Koshland Professor of Fine Arts.
Ying Li's work has been featured in numerous exhibitions internationally, in Switzerland, Italy, Ireland, France, China, and in New York City at the National Academy Museum and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Artforum, and Art in America, among others. Ying Li maintains studios in New York City and Haverford, Pennsylvania. A catalogue with an essay by John Goodrich will accompany the exhibition.
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View work in the exhibition on the Valley House Gallery website at
https://www.valleyhouse.com/thumbnails.asp?mode=page&idx=296
View the exhibition on Artsy at
https://www.artsy.net/show/valley-house-gallery-and-sculpture-garden-ying-li-hothouse
The exhibition "Ying Li: Hothouse" will be on view from September 13 through October 18, 2025, at Valley House Gallery, 6616 Spring Valley Road, Dallas, Texas. Gallery hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Saturday. Call 972-239-2441 or visit
https://www.valleyhouse.com for information.
Image:
Ying Li, "Roanoke Valley #4," 2025, oil on linen, 30 x 40 inches
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