The Woodblock Prints of Chen Li: Reflections in a Blue Lake

A selling exhibition of rare contemporary woodblock prints from China's frontier Yunnan Province.

Chen Li (b. 1971) applies his unique vision and abundant originality to a rare reduction woodblock printing technique perfected in Yunnan.

The technique involves printing all of the colours from a single woodblock. Each step along the way destroys the previous one until the woodblock itself is destroyed.

Only a single edition can be printed this way and the process can never be repeated. The technique uses thick oil-based colours, creating relief-prints with a mesmerising texture.

Ranging from traditional Chinese landscapes, abstractions, whimsical Buddhas, and fantasy landscapes, Chen Li’s award-winning works are a song of line and colour.