Game

Li Songsong's paintings are based on documentary photographs, taken of both well-known and otherwise un-observed political incidents in modern Chinese history. Rather than acting as historical witnesses or reflecting a particular historical viewpoint these paintings function in a personal way for the artist, mining his own past to recapture half forgotten or understood memories and to unearth the political environment of his youth.

The scale of much of Li's work is reminiscent of large European 19th Century history paintings, reminding us of the use of art, imagery and more recently photography in the writing of history by those in authority. Although the mass media images Li draws from often illustrate the climax of an event or action, the evident trace of the artists mark on canvas invests on the image a contemplative human witness. His paintings lush impasto texture defies the mechanical shutter and apparently seamless gloss of the photographic print.