Discover the Works of Contemporary Artist Le Xi

Le Xi, Dynamic Resonance, video, 01:03(Loop),  dimensions variable, 2024 Click

“Dynamic Resonance”

This artwork is inspired by my experience of riding the subway at high speed. In that moment, I didn't just feel like a passenger standing there, but rather, I felt connected to the subway's rhythm and became a part of it. As the subway moved quickly, I tried to maintain my balance and sync my arm with the passing tracks. This inspired me to create something. I carefully felt the force pushing me back when the subway suddenly started, merging with its acceleration. This experience made me realize the strong connection between modern technology and our bodies. The subway is a symbol of technology and city life, and it greatly influences our daily experiences.

Through "Dynamic Resonance," I aim to capture the harmony between the arm and the electric subway in a pure artistic form. I want to emphasize the excitement of speed and express my fascination with future technology. In this artwork, I used my phone to record the subway ride, focusing on the tracks outside to synchronize my movements with the train. By layering and overlaying the visuals, I highlighted the relationship between the arm and the subway tracks, showcasing the subway's fast motion and the body's balance. This creative process aims to capture the moment when humans and machines resonate harmoniously. It explores the possibility of harmonious coexistence between humans and the artificial environment, and seeks to establish a new balance between humans, nature, and technology.

“Smartphones”

This is a line-drawing animation about "gestures" that is inspired by my everyday experiences. With smartphones becoming an integral part of our bodies, it has made me think about the relationship between phones and gestures and explore how technology and the human body can merge together.

I tried to capture gestures in a new way by isolating them from their everyday context through line drawings. I depicted actions such as using the phone, observing it, and contemplating its significance, all happening simultaneously through the lines. By drawing gestures frame by frame, I experienced a world that goes beyond reality, where digital enhancements reshape our everyday lives.

Throughout the process of drawing gestures in continuous motion, I not only understood how phones integrate with our fingers, changing the way we interact with the world and communicate with others, but I also explored the potential of gestures as a universal language that surpasses cultural and linguistic barriers, as well as the immersive experiences that "mechanical gestures" can offer. This line-drawing animation is my expression of our shared existence in the digital age and a reflection of my personal adaptation and experience of digital life. Through this creation, I aim to explore the space between phones and gestures, technology and the human body, and how they shape and influence our interactions with the real world.

“In Sync”

I imitate saplings and synchronize my movements with theirs. I am captivated by the saplings' fleeting yet expansive qualities and their unique physical dynamics. Through bodily perception, I attempt to understand how saplings maintain a balance with our living environment, exploring the intersection of humans and nature.

People may not perceive the sapling before them as a common artistic medium, as the sapling's movements are brief and easily overlooked. However, it is precisely this transience that conveys a delicate and ethereal touch, providing the impetus for creating this piece. Through capturing and deconstructing the movements of saplings through imagery, I can more accurately perceive and experience the frequency of their motions. When I compare the movements of my own arms with those of the saplings, I truly comprehend the reason why I spend time engaging with this artwork.

This interactive process makes the bodily experience intuitive and intriguing. My creation aims to use this interaction to perceive the supernatural power inherent in saplings through bodily senses, rather than merely expressing or conveying specific content. Through visual recordings that focus on the saplings' transience, fragility, and lightness, I am dedicated to presenting the wondrous and enigmatic relationship between saplings and our living environment. By perpetually existing in the online world, I hope to convey a sense of reverence for nature.

“Cleaning Windows”

In my studio in Chongqing, I started cleaning windows. Through them, I could see the changes in the city and the three-dimensional distant view. I focused on cleaning the dust of the city with a double-sided glass cleaning tool, keeping the windows transparent. I immersed myself in this concentrated work. The sound of the glass scraper and the scenery in front of me echoed each other. My movements were like the painting gestures that spanned the frame, slowly moving, rising and falling, scraping and wiping. Three years later, after the epidemic, I returned to my hometown and used window cleaning to rediscover the cityscape. I felt like a painter, thinking of Willem de Kooning's action painting. I set up a video camera and recorded my performance, but at the same time, I was just cleaning the glass. I enjoyed the transformation between the roles of a cleaner, an actor, and a painter. This transformation made me feel the charm of the intersection of art and life, while thinking about the world dominated by glass panels. Windows become the windows of communication, just like the windows of mobile phones, physically isolated, lonely but closer. However, all of this is filled with calmness and helplessness, making me cherish every moment of life even more. Through this work, I hope to re-examine the ordinary actions of daily life and the changes in the urban environment, while expressing my attention to the intersection of art and life.

 “The Union of Self and Objects”

I have collected items that I carried with me for 20 years, attempting to digest and accept the changes of the times, as well as the changes in my lifestyle and work. These items reflect how my body has been redefined in the digital age from a different perspective. Over the past 20 years, these items have been phased out and updated, but the intimate relationship between them and my body has witnessed the essence of all the bodily movements and gestures I have experienced. These items can be seen as receipts for the fusion of digital and real-life over the past 20 years, and I want to use them as the basis to recreate my "relaxed dynamic."

To achieve this goal, I use the technique of stop-motion animation on my smartphone to arrange and move these items, seeking a game that transcends reality between the real and the imagined in artistic form. Through this process, I can experience how time unfolds in the arrangement and movement of the items and how it is transformed into a form and digital structure. At the same time, I am also exploring how to break the boundaries between material and spirituality with a strong conviction and avoid working mechanically.

I focus on the continuous movement of digital images and try to redefine the relationship between the body and items in the digital age by imitating the self-contradictory ability between vivid materials and the intangible means of "relaxed dynamic," exploring the interaction and possibility between the digital world and real life, and bridging the gap between experience and the physical world. This is a work that combines digital art and physical objects. I hope to raise people's awareness of the sensitivity of body and material life through my work, use our inherent contradictory abilities to better understand the differences and connections between the digital world and real life, understand that making motion digital images provides another immersive experience, and gradually transform material life into the non-material realm. In short, by focusing on inner experiences, discovering the potential of bodily participation, and re-establishing connections with nature and the real world, we can gain a more profound and comprehensive experience of life.

“Fly with The Wind”

I often think of the surrealist artist Magritte, the free sky and the white clouds. I closed my eyes and scanned the white cloud above my head, so that the details of my face were the expression of a white cloud and became my avatar. I follow the white clouds between the reality and the surreal, trying to conquer the uncertain boundary between the real and the virtual. I don't know what sentence to use to describe the relationship between my head and the white cloud. Is it about hope and loss? Negotiation and communication between abstract and concretion? or whether shaking my head is a way of thinking? Is it a helplessness to digest the intensity of reality? Anyway, Make the invisible visible, turn around to make wishes come true.

“Black Car on White Background”

Snow is a color, white is a color, snow is a natural, water-crystallized ice, while white is a basic color in color theory. This work began with waiting for snowflakes in the sky, using fluttering snow to depict the portrait of a black car. 8 hours later, the black car was left on the ground, the snow depicting the portrait, leaving a profound impression. Then I used a computer to convert the background of the snow into the white color in the RGB color model's hexadecimal color, usually represented as (255, 255, 255), thus generating a vector graphic portrait of a black car with a white background. As this is a vector graphic, it can be infinitely scaled and spread on the internet. I associate snow and white together to contrast and hope to experience the manufacturing process of the black car and its process of consumption and being consumed in space and time from the perspective of nature. The black car is not only a physical existence, it also represents our relationship with nature, our dependence on nature and our impact on nature.

“Stand Still”

In my life, turning my back to the sun and the ground in front of me has been an exercise in self-healing. I use the camera lens of my mobile phone to keep the composition of the identity image, and to experience the fusion of lost time and still movements, the main purpose of the shooting of this work. I want to hold the moment of emptiness and eternity, feel the absolute power of the will shuttle between yin and yang, let the ego dissipate in the medium, in the uncertainty or randomness of existence, in the light and shadow and the breeze. This work is about the interaction of mind and body, not watching images, but projecting oneself into a specific environment, participating in the experience with actions, and finding the secret of existence. Anyone can do it, without video editing and image processing, just record in real time, add yourself to the time span, and get a share of the shooting behavior. Between the self-portrait and the landscape, there is a continuous dialogue and interaction through light and shadow, approaching the mundane essence with pure form, alert to the unnatural isolation between the gallery space and the work.

“Yellow Line”

"Yellow Line" is a visual work that can be enjoyed in two ways. You can sit down and watch it attentively, or you can watch it absentmindedly while looking at the bustling streets around you, and then return to the visual work. Either way, you will see the embodiment of the "traffic yellow line", reminding us that the body is a part of the city's roads, and the city is an extension of the body. The idea came from my concern with my own shadow on the "yellow line of traffic". To experience the impact of the "traffic yellow line" on my life, I let my imagination run wild while crossing the city's roads, momentarily becoming a part of the environment. I recorded and produced this process with my phone, experiencing the texture of the yellow line and challenging the abstraction of the body. I hope that this video can be my "self-portrait", as well as everyone's "self-portrait", just to verify the free space that exists between human and artificial.

“Shovel the Snow in the North”

In the monotonous, boring, and repetitive life habits, I am engrossed in searching for the poetic moments that hide the individuality and capturing the subtle contradictions. This work can be my "self-portrait" or the "self-portrait" of all people, in order to find and verify the unique and imprinted moments in our lives.

“Blue Long Grass”

The theme of the work "Blue Long Grass" is the rhythm of plant movement, exploring the beauty of plant growth and motion. Its concept is to combine artificial objects (blue toilet brush) with natural objects (long grass). The color of the toilet brush evokes a sense of calm and tranquility, which triggers thoughts about environmental protection and sustainable development. Thus, I decided to graft the toilet brush with plants, overlaying the shadow of the long grass, which has a similar shape, to restore the beauty of growth and motion. Through the animation simulation of the swaying of the long grass in the wind, the relationship between humans and nature is revealed, blurring the boundary between artificial and natural.

This is a video installation work that breaks down the barrier between the screen and physical space. The animation becomes part of the space, immersing the audience in the experience of plant movement. The work attempts to create a sense of fluidity between artificial and natural, surpassing the limits between story and reality, and creating an atmosphere of integration between nature and artificiality.

“Blink”

This artwork began with an exploration of the tension between internal and external transitions, seeking to create a new conceptual framework for understanding the self. By focusing on the act of blinking, I aimed to examine the boundary between the internal and external worlds, and the "feeling of seeing oneself" that emerges in the interplay between perception and the observed.

At the core of this work is an investigation into the relationship between the body and the way we observe phenomena. Through the cyclical process of blinking, I hoped to create a dialogue between the internal and external realms - a choreography of passive acceptance and active choice. By replicating this bodily experience frame by frame, I sought to both enlarge the distance between the image and the photographed form, as well as conceal the "I" behind the image in front of the viewer.

In doing so, I attempted to break down the barriers between inner and outer worlds, inviting the audience to contemplate their own embodied engagement with the work. The act of blinking became a conduit for exploring the liminal space where self and other, seen and seer, converge and diverge. Ultimately, "Blink" aims to challenge conventional notions of identity and perception, encouraging a more nuanced understanding of the lived experience of the body in relation to the world.

“Raindrops”

In the artwork "Raindrops," I captured the falling raindrops, allowing myself to feel the mysterious energies of the universe. I saw Earth's gravity as an unseen brush, letting me craft visual art by blending Earth's pull with the raindrops. Using my phone, I recorded and used a computer's power to break down each raindrop, showing their depth and energy through shifts in color and brightness. While I didn't know how the final piece would look in terms of patterns and animations, this mechanical process allowed me to experience the flow and change of energy and matter in nature, immersing me in its wonder and beauty.

In this artwork, I integrated the falling and energy of raindrops into the creative process. By adjusting pixel colors and brightness, I used brighter shades and larger pixels to illustrate the ripples created when raindrops hit the ground, making them look more three-dimensional and textured while also displaying their interaction with the environment. It was as if I watched the sky gifting the earth with fireworks, immersing myself in the magnificence and mystery of raindrops. Frame by frame, as I put time and effort into replicating, I gradually understood the importance and worth of this process. This artwork doesn't just show respect for nature and trust in technology, but also offers another way to explore the deep and mysterious forces of the universe. I firmly believe that an enigmatic and unpredictable natural realm exists in our everyday lives.

"Breezes of Chongqing Summer"

Living in my studio, I have come to deeply appreciate that life itself is a work of art. I hope my work can merge with the mysterious power of nature. Every morning, I can see the interaction between the curtains and the breezes as soon as I open my eyes. Today, I put on a colorful ribbon to capture the traces of the breeze. I focused on the fluttering of the ribbon in the wind, but my experience wavered between color and wind.

I held my breath and recorded this video, trying to distinguish to what extent the "wind" was accumulated from artificial things, while also looking for evidence to prove the mark of true nature. However, I became entangled between the artificial and the natural, beginning to doubt what is artificial and what is natural. Is the fluttering of the ribbon really the trace of the breeze? Maybe it is only the color line that Paul Klee pursued, or the continuous vibration of color blocks like music scales in Mark Rothko's window-style paintings, or even the fluttering of mysterious butterfly wings on the horizon. Although I cannot be sure, through these elusive comparisons, I hope to explore the relationship between nature, artificiality, and art, and bridge the gap between experience and the physical world. This "gap" is a major problem in my work and life, and I want to understand the mysterious connection and boundaries within it.

Though my life may sometimes appear monotonous and mundane, I cannot fathom any other way of living. Within the confines of my studio, I have come to deeply realize that life itself is a work of art, and the sensation of 'feeling the gentle breeze' remains an eternal and ineffable subject, transcending both emotions and thoughts, carrying a meditative and mysterious significance. When it comes to the question of 'what is art,' I have always held a skeptical stance due to the occasional absurdity of this world. Nevertheless, I aspire to transform numerous aspects of life into art and endow them with fresh possibilities.

Le Xi, Where Body Meets Building, video, 01:06(Loop), dimensions variable, 2020

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“Where Body Meets Building”

This work comes from my feeling that architectural space has become a part of my body. By comparing the body to buildings, I explore the sense of bodily extension. This contrast highlights the tension between flowing body movements and rigid structures, revealing the complex emotions individuals carry in space.

To capture this feeling, I recorded common body language in my studio using my phone, such as waving my arms and stretching. These seemingly casual movements reflect my emotional state and show how the body interacts dynamically within a specific space. I used computer techniques to overlay these movements with the exterior walls of the studio, creating a coherent sequence. This blends the curves of the body with the geometric lines of the architecture, examining how this “overlay visualization” restricts the body with windows and structures, and how the texture of buildings contrasts with the body’s texture. Together, they create a visual experience of the relationship between inside and outside, prompting me to rethink the fragile connection and sense of loss between body movements and architecture.

I use this non-narrative style to combine images with dynamic symbols, which I call “overlay visualization.” This responds to how modern people navigate between physical and virtual worlds. Through the overlap of body and architecture, I hope to inspire viewers to think about their roles in space and how they experience the blurred boundaries between body and environment. Ultimately, I want this “overlay visualization” to guide people to reevaluate their existence and encourage them to find new possibilities in challenges.

Le Xi, Under the Sun, 01:11(Loop), video, dimensions variable, silent, 2022

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Under the Sun

Under the sunlight, I exchange positions with the water using my body, trying to experience the fleeting moment. The sun has always been there, but we rarely notice its influence because it's too commonplace. The scorching sun is billions of light-years away, and its existence has never changed. However, I cannot directly look at it, I can only move my gaze away, turn my back to the sun, face the water that is as blue as the sky and feel how the sunlight changes and distorts my shadow. I try hard to remember my shadow swaying like seaweed with the water waves, this mysterious and elusive feeling. I can only record the momentary self with images and experience the fusion of time and body. There is a kind of everlasting reverence between me and the sun. I pause in the frequency of sunlight being disturbed by water waves, allowing light, shadow, sight, and perception to link together, feeling how the shadow measures the fusion of surroundings and inner world by using perception as a medium. In short, the sunlight is one of the oldest existences, and meditating under the sunlight has become a part of my daily life.

Le Xi, AAA-AAA by Le, 01:15(Loop), video, dimensions variable, silent, 2018

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AAA-AAA by Le

AAA-AAA by Le continues my exploration of “pure behavioral dynamics,” first seen in my 2017 work Husband and Wife Run in Sync. This time, I shift from intimate relationships to the broader tension between individuals and others. Inspired by Marina Abramović and Ulay, I adapt their physical language through digital media to examine shifting boundaries of identity, existence, and perception.

To focus on the energy of action, I obscure participants’ faces, removing fixed identities and emphasizing the physical and psychological space between people.

Using positive and negative space, abstract lines, and color, I construct visual relationships that symbolize energy and flow. Mechanical repetition and abstraction create a sustained tension, drawing viewers into a heightened awareness of their own perception.

Through minimal forms and digital techniques, I distill complex human interaction into its essential structures—inviting reflection on individuality, connection, and the fluid nature of self.

Le Xi, Husband and Wife Run in Sync, 01:01(Loop), video, dimensions variable, silent, 2017

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Husband and Wife Run in Sync

Inspired by Marina Abramović and Ulay’s Relation in Time, this work explores how physical behavior can be abstracted and reexamined through digital means, beyond live performance and personal identity.

I collected online videos of couples running in sync on the spot—a simple, repetitive action revealing subtle rhythms and tensions in their interaction. I wasn’t focused on the action itself, but on the shifting boundaries between two bodies moving together.

I reduced each frame to black silhouettes and traced colorful lines along their points of contact. These lines became abstract records of motion—visualizing connection, distance, and coordination.

Digital processing allowed me to detach the body from theatricality, observing behavior in a slow, fragmented, and objective way.

This piece isn’t about storytelling. It investigates how “synchronization” is never perfect, but a continuous process of adjusting and responding—a quiet negotiation between two bodies across time.

Le Xi, We Burn, We Shiver, 01:08(Loop), video, dimensions variable, 2020

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We Burn, We Shiver

In my 2020, I "throw" myself into the nature replaced by pictures. Appreciating the scenery is an imaginary whole, and the boundaries between thinking and doing are constantly blurring. I connected the movement of the leaves with the movement of the flame， and used the mobile phone's image records to try to find their real movement boundaries. Photography has become my second natural activity, part of the action of this work. My computer screen became a window, a mirror, a telescope, and a video recorder, which allowed me to "dig and look" frame by frame, like a survivor walking out of a predicament through a gap. I measure the fascinating "reflection" between the burning of the flames and the trembling of the leaves, hoping to present those "desires" that cannot be seen but that I can see, not the relationship between "seeing" and "not seeing", but About walking into the superimposed life of "thinking" and "doing".

Le Xi，Walk in the Cars, 01:18(Loop), video, dimensions variable, silent, 2020

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Walk in the Cars

When I embarked on the action of "extracting shadows," I allowed fragments of existentialism and romanticism to come into play. Existentialism emphasizes the importance of individual freedom and choice, while romanticism emphasizes the power of emotion and imagination. I broke down these two stylistic elements into fragments and then recombined them, challenging the differences between different perspectives. In this process, "extracting shadows" became a poetic and delightful real action.

I isolated and highlighted the shadows in the scene, allowing the exchange and separation of the internal and external spaces of the car and the human body. This experience helped me to re-examine and question the relationship between the body and the car, and to explore our reliance on and impact on nature from another perspective. At the same time, this action also allowed me to rediscover the details that are ignored by the naked eye, enabling me to explore and challenge the meaning and effectiveness of "concealment" from another perspective. I believe that this action can allow us to rediscover the concealed truth, challenging our cognition and understanding.

Le Xi， White House, 02:01(Loop) video dimensions variable，2011

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White House

In this work, I try to place my body between the boundaries of solid and shadow, time and space. The “white house” gives me a sense of existence and belonging in space, carrying history and memory. I aim to give its shadow a physical form, exploring the subtle relationship between objects and their shadows. As I walk along the edge of the house's shadow, I focus not only on the shadow itself but also on the naturalness of the walking process over time.

To avoid monotony, I concentrate on walking between the roof and its shadow on the ground, balancing the struggle between monotony and poetry, and the limits of life with infinite perception. In this process, walking becomes not just physical movement but an extension of perception, allowing me to experience the moments where sunlight and shadow intertwine with each step.

Ultimately, I replace thinking with walking, letting my body merge with the environment between sunlight and shadow. On one hand, I confront the fragility and limits of existence; on the other, I feel the infinite possibilities of being. This experience is not only an exploration of space but also a deep reflection on my own existence, revealing the delicate balance between change and stillness.