The show started with the first group of paintings entitled “Early Spring.” One of the paintings, also titled Early Spring (2009), showed a large piece of grass, which was colored green with drops of paint and ink wash. The work has been considered Li’s revisiting of his “Blue Mountain” series. The combination of Spring-like colors and black ink is delightful, but it does not break forth from its compelling predecessor. Its vividness took over any depth and evocativeness. Opposite was Village of Mandarins (2015). Here, though bits of orange shy away under dots of black ink—which are themselves engulfed in layers of green—I could strongly sense the juiciness of the portrayed mandarins. The subtle colors generate a brilliant composition. The distance between layers of green hills and the viewer suggest the influence of Chinese landscape painting, with a cleverly composed perspective.

The second group of works was the compelling trilogy of paintings, “Jing, Shan, Tian” (2014–15). Respectively, the pieces show geometric shapes of the Chinese characters for “well” (Jing), “mountain (Shan) and “field” (Tian). The pieces play on the viewers’ vision of picturesque scenery. In Tian, subtle strokes of blue, yellow and orange pose a sharp contrast against the work’s heavily-inked, black frame. This fantastic piece evokes different landscapes in a field. It is an open-ended poem of tenderness and timelessness. Shan successfully pictures the grittiness of a black mountain against a dawn-like yellow and grey background. The large, black shape offered a lot of room for imagination and fantasy to viewers. However, in terms of the exhibition title’s reference to the Tower of Babel, the irony was that Li’s work titles, and the Chinese characters depicted in them, could only speak to viewers with knowledge of the Chinese language.

The last group of works in the exhibition had a personal touch. My Journey (2000) is seen as channeling the artist’s personal feelings concerning his artistic explorations. Relatedly, he also wrote a poem about the fear of falling for this piece. The painting’s grave demeanor and imposing tension stood out in the show and brought out Li’s genuine confession that professes the danger and bumpiness of his artistic journey. However, the poem somehow limited the viewers’ imagination and interpretation of this superb, abstract piece.

The selection of the works in this exhibition was thoughtful; however, the ambition of this solo presentation could not be fully accommodated due to its scale. There was also a lack of display of older works by the artist. The voice of the new works could have resonated deeper and louder if they had been juxtaposed with Li’s earlier works.

“Beyond Babel: Li Dezhuang” was on view from February 20 to March 16, 2016, at Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong.