Li Wang
I’m interested in how queer male bodies inhabit domestic spaces. Rendering
my figures within a realistic atmosphere, I interrogate the concept of
masculinity. In my work, nude bodies are bathed in sexual innuendo, tension,
and gay desire. They expose themselves or commit acts of kink while staring
directly at the viewer, as if including them in their secret deed. The figures
in my paintings are beautiful, sexy, frail, effeminate, and sickly. My works
illuminate the emotional landscape and cultural complexities experienced
by my community of gay male immigrants from China who live in the United
States.
It would be impossible for me to return to China and live as an openly queer
man, yet to live authentically in the United States, while preferable, can be
a deeply lonely existence because of cultural isolation. The queer diaspora
of China is faced with the dilemma of not belonging anywhere. My paintings
depict alienation and authenticity simultaneously.
