Li Hei Di
Growth#2
Egon Investment Scores
Liquidity
6/10
How easily works can be bought and sold at auction
Institutional
9/10
Museum collections, biennials, and institutional recognition
Momentum
9/10
Recent price trends, gallery moves, and market buzz
Discovery
2/10
Undervaluation opportunity relative to peer artists
Risk
2/10
Investment risk factors — higher means more volatile
Market Position
- Liquidity
- Market Depth
- Limited but growing - relatively few works available given recent career start
- Risk Factors
- Very young market (less than 2 years)Price acceleration may outpace career developmentLimited body of work availableUltra-contemporary category volatility
- Resale Activity
- Works entering auction from recent purchases (2021-2023 works selling 2024-2025)
- Trading Velocity
- High for emerging artist - suggests speculative interest alongside collecting
- Secondary Market Development
- Rapidly developing - 12 lots in first year indicates strong demand beyond primary
- Comparables
- Peer Group
- Post-1990 born painters with mega-gallery representation in first 5 years of career
- Market Position
- Among most closely watched young painters despite ultra-contemporary category weakness (2024-2025)
- Differential Factors
- Market built on 'difficulty' rather than instant Instagram legibility
- Collector Base
- Bidding Activity
- Cross-continental participation at auctions
- Regional Markets
- Hong Kong, Seoul, Texas, South Africa, Northern California, UK
- Collector Profile
- Mix of sophisticated private collectors and major institutions
- Market Misconception
- Not regionally narrow despite Chinese origin - strong Western collector base
- Geographic Distribution
- Global - collectors across Asia, Europe, United States, South Africa
- Primary Market
- Availability
- Contact Pace Gallery, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, or Michael Kohn Gallery for current pricing
- Fair Presence
- Art Basel Miami Beach (2024, 2025), Frieze London (2024)
- Market Positioning
- Ultra-contemporary emerging artist with mega-gallery representation
- Pricing Philosophy
- Gallery prioritizes institutional validation over rapid price escalation
- Gallery Pricing Strategy
- Deliberately kept accessible to institutions to maintain museum acquisition opportunity
- Auction History
- Timeframe
- November 2024 - December 2025 (13 months)
- Market Velocity
- Exceptionally high frequency - 12 auction appearances in 13 months for artist born 1997
- Price Trajectory
- Rapidly ascending - auction record increased 170% in 10 months (Nov 2024 to Sep 2025)
- Sell Through Rate
- 100% (all lots sold)
- Estimate Multiples
- Consistently selling 3-4.5x low estimates
- Current Auction Record
- $342,824 (September 2025)
- Geographic Concentration
- 8 of 12 sales in Hong Kong
- Recent Auction Range 2025
- $11,379 - $121,920 (partial database)
- Total Auction Appearances
- 12
- Auction Record Progression
Work Date Price Venue Performance Unfolding a flood (2022) November 2024 $127,000 Phillips New York — Orange Swim (2021) November 25, 2024 $155,100 Phillips Hong Kong 3.5x low estimate, +22% record increase Drifted Petals on Her Lifted Mound (2022) March 29, 2025 $179,500 Sotheby's Hong Kong 4.5x low estimate, +15% record increase, over double high estimate There Was One Summer Returning Over and Over; There Was One Dawn I Grew Old Watching (2023) September 28, 2025 $342,824 Sotheby's Hong Kong 3.5x low estimate, +91% record increase - Consistent Over Performance
- All 2025 sales exceeded high estimates
- Historical High From Database
- $952,500
Institutional Presence
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Los Angeles, CAHigh Museum of Art
Atlanta, GAInstitute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA Miami)
Miami, FLThe Hepworth Wakefield
West Yorkshire, UKColumbus Museum of Art
OhioLong Museum
Shanghai, ChinaFondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
Turin, ItalyTanoto Art Foundation
SingaporeUeshima Museum
Tokyo, JapanYageo Foundation
Taiwan- Exhibitions
- Solo Exhibitions
Title Year Dates Venue Significance Tongues of Flare 2025 May 29 - August 29, 2025 Pace Gallery, Hong Kong First solo exhibition with Pace Gallery, 11 new paintings 700 Nights of Winter 2024 March 15 - April 20, 2024 Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London First European solo exhibition Oscillating Womb 2023 November 2, 2023 - January 6, 2024 Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles First US solo exhibition Tits at Dawn 2022 November 11 - December 18, 2022 LINSEED Projects, Shanghai First solo exhibition - Major Group Exhibitions
Title Year Dates Venue A Living Collection 2025-2026 February 15, 2025 - Spring 2026 The Hepworth Wakefield, UK Abstraction (Re)Creation - 20 Under 40 2025 May 25 - October 12, 2025 X Museum, Beijing The Monster (Curated by Robert Nava) 2025 February 1 - March 22, 2025 Pace Gallery, Los Angeles Double Vision: The Rachofsky Collection 2025 — The Warehouse, Dallas, TX Wild: Women Abstractionists on Nature 2024 March 21 - June 22, 2024 Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Philippines Fruit and Fruition 2024 June 28 - August 9, 2024 GRIMM, New York Home Is Where the Haunt Is (X Museum Triennial 2023) 2023 August 27 - November 26, 2023 X Museum, Beijing Uncanny Valley 2023 January 31 - March 4, 2023 Gagosian, Hong Kong
- Museum Collections
- Institutional Momentum
- Accelerating - multiple Tier 1 and 2 museum acquisitions in 2024, major exhibition presence
- Major Private Collections
Location Collection Prominence Dallas, TX Rachofsky Collection Major US contemporary art collection Dallas, TX Green Family Art Foundation Significant Texas collection with exhibition space
Career & Biography
- Career
- Career Milestones
Year Event 2024 Joined Pace Gallery as youngest artist on roster (age 27) 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia selection 2023 Featured in Artsy Vanguard 2023 2023 First US solo exhibition at Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles 2022 First solo exhibition at LINSEED Projects, Shanghai
- Identity
- Pronouns
- they/them
- Current Location
- London, United Kingdom
- Artistic Identity
- Chinese-born, London-based painter exploring themes of desire, sexuality, gender fluidity, and cultural displacement through layered abstraction-figuration paintings
Artistic Profile
- Style
- Hybrid abstraction-figuration
- Evolution
- Shift
- Move to UK (2020) catalyzed transition to abstraction-figuration hybrid
- Early Period
- More figurative during US education (Maryland Institute College of Art 2016-2018)
- Current Practice
- Increasingly complex imagery, more distinct figurative elements, larger scale works
- Conceptual Development
- Water metaphor central from 2021-2022 onwards
- Influences
- Cinema
- Tsui Hark - Green Snake (1993)Ching Siu-tung - A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)Swordsman II: Asia the Invincible (1992)Hong Kong wuxia films of 1980s-90s
- Cultural
- Chinese folklore, Tang Dynasty Qing Lou culture, Chinese fantasy literature
- Literature
- bell hooksByung-Chul HanMo YanMaggie NelsonPaul B. PreciadoVirginia WoolfGeorges Bataille (Eroticism: Death and Sensuality)Han Kang (The Vegetarian)Torrey Peters (Detransition, Baby)
- Art Historical
- Abstract Expressionists (scale and gesture)Miriam Cahn (sexuality and rawness)
- Visual Language
- Dominant Hues
- Ambient reds, oranges, saccharine pinks, purples, deep greens, blues
- Emotional Register
- Ranges from melancholic to euphoric
- Atmospheric Quality
- Luminescent, murky, mystical
- Themes and Subjects
- Movements and Periods
- Art Historical Positioning
- Comparisons
- Resists easy categorization - neither purely Chinese contemporary nor Western abstract tradition
- Unique Contribution
- Cross-cultural queer perspective manifested through painterly abstraction
- Contemporary Context
- Part of generation of post-1990 painters combining personal identity with formal experimentation
- Techniques and Mediums
- Technique
- Process
- Layered application and removal of paint with cloth
- Approach
- Intuitive, no preparatory sketches
- Visual Effect
- Translucent, membrane-like surfaces with figures emerging beneath atmospheric brushwork
- Signature Quality
- Spectral, ghostly figures submerged in color washes
- Working Method
- Philosophy
- 'Painting in the way I experience life' - processing displacement and belonging through mark-making
- Studio Practice
- Intuitive, process-driven
- Reference Materials
- Compilation of film stills, especially Hong Kong cinema
- Additional Media
- Sculpture (wood)Stop-motion animationPerformance
Critical Reception
- Critical Reception
- Key Themes
- Innovative synthesis of abstraction and figurationSophisticated exploration of desire, sexuality, gender fluidityCultural hybridity (Chinese/Western influences)Technical mastery of layered painting processWorks described as 'difficult' in positive sense - reward sustained attention
- Monographs
- Year
- 2024
- Title
- Oscillating Womb (exhibition catalogue)
- Publisher
- Michael Kohn Gallery
- Title
- Pace Publishing monograph
- Status
- Forthcoming - to accompany New York solo exhibition Fall 2026
- Academic Attention
- Limited scholarly attention to date given early career stage
- Catalogue Raisonne
- None
- Critical Consensus
- Highly regarded for depth and complexity beyond typical ultra-contemporary artists
- Market Critical Alignment
- Strong - critics and collectors aligned on quality
- Publications and Media
- Major Publications
- Articles
- Date
- January 2026
- Type
- Market analysis
- Title
- After a 2025 of Over-Performances, Li Hei Di's Market Seems Poised to Take Another Jump This Year
- Significance
- Major feature on market trajectory
- Date
- September 2024
- Title
- Emerging Artist Li Hei Di Joins Pace Gallery
- Significance
- Gallery representation announcement
- Publication
- ARTnews
- Coverage
- Fast-Rising Painter Li Hei Di Smashes Auction Record at Sotheby's Hong Kong (October 2025)
- Studio Visit feature (March 2025)
- Publication
- Artnet News
- Coverage
- The Artsy Vanguard 2023 featureMultiple auction result reportsProfile: 'Li Hei Di's Luminescent Paintings Unleash the Electricity of Human Interaction' (January 2024)
- Publication
- Artsy
- Coverage
- Regular coverage including auction records and exhibition reviews
- Publication
- Ocula
- Article
- 'State of the Art' - Art Issue, November 2025, pages 76-89
- Publication
- Vanity Fair
- Significance
- Inclusion in major cultural magazine feature
- Publication
- Forbes Asia
- Recognition
- Forbes 30 Under 30 profile, May 2024
- Article
- 'Seeing Red with Li Hei Di' (April 2024)
- Publication
- Elephant Magazine
- Interview
- March 2024
- Publication
- Plaster Magazine
Gallery & Representation
- Fair Presence
- Art Basel Miami Beach (Pace, 2024-2025)Frieze London (Pippy Houldsworth, 2024)Art Basel Hong Kong (gallery presence)
- Representation
- Gallery Evolution
- Rapid mega-gallery ascension - moved from emerging Shanghai gallery (LINSEED Projects) to Pace within 2 years
- Representation Strategy
- Joint representation model allowing regional specialization
- Secondary Market Presence
Venue Activity Phillips Primary auction house - multiple sales 2024-2025 Sotheby's Hong Kong Evening sales inclusion - record results March & September 2025 Christie's Limited activity documented
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Signal Timeline & Strength Analysis
Gallery moves, auction records, institutional acquisitions, price milestones — tracked over 90 days
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Geographic distribution, institutional vs. private buyers, collector profiles, and secondary market activity
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