YUELIN LI
INFO
I paint what is closest to my heart, beginning with small, intimate moments of everyday life: freshly painted nails, the act of trimming body hair, or a pear cut in half. Working primarily in oil, I depict bodies and objects in domestic spaces, finding tenderness, longing, and sadness in what might otherwise seem ordinary.Through close framing and attention to skin, fabric, and small gestures, I give these details room to be felt. The desire to be close to another person runs through my work. My paintings are often quiet, but the feelings within them are not always peaceful. I paint what is closest to my heart, beginning with small, intimate moments of everyday life: freshly painted nails, the act of trimming body hair, or a pear cut in half. Working primarily in oil, I depict bodies and objects in domestic spaces, finding tenderness, longing, and sadness in what might otherwise seem ordinary.Through close framing and attention to skin, fabric, and small gestures, I give these details room to be felt. The desire to be close to another person runs through my work. My paintings are often quiet, but the feelings within them are not always peaceful. I paint what is closest to my heart, beginning with small, intimate moments of everyday life: freshly painted nails, the act of trimming body hair, or a pear cut in half. Working primarily in oil, I depict bodies and objects in domestic spaces, finding tenderness, longing, and sadness in what might otherwise seem ordinary.Through close framing and attention to skin, fabric, and small gestures, I give these details room to be felt. The desire to be close to another person runs through my work. My paintings are often quiet, but the feelings within them are not always peaceful. I paint what is closest to my heart, beginning with small, intimate moments of everyday life: freshly painted nails, the act of trimming body hair, or a pear cut in half. Working primarily in oil, I depict bodies and objects in domestic spaces, finding tenderness, longing, and sadness in what might otherwise seem ordinary.Through close framing and attention to skin, fabric, and small gestures, I give these details room to be felt. The desire to be close to another person runs through my work. My paintings are often quiet, but the feelings within them are not always peaceful.

Static Dynamic Simulation

8/23/2020
Recycled metal, custom CNC gears
1.64' x 0.98' x 1.97'

life is not a category but a dynamic process, continuously rewritten through technological and material assemblages.

Using metal to simulate human dynamics—bending parts, assembling the skeleton, using steel bars as bones, and iron wires as muscles—I felt that this cold sculpture was imbued with human emotion and life. When I stared at it long enough, it seemed as though it had begun to move with the body I had given it.

© 2025 Yuelin.