Li Hei Di
GrowthEgon research · Artist market profile
The market, in context.
Explore Li Hei Di’s auction history alongside the exhibitions, collections and gallery relationships behind the market.
Institutional research
Collections & exhibitions
Read holdings, exhibition history and their qualifications in context.
Read the institutional research →
Egon investment scores
Market position
Research updated
Auction record context
$342,824 (September 2025)
Auction highlights
Scroll horizontally if needed →
| Work | Result | Venue and date |
|---|---|---|
| There Was One Summer Returning Over and Over; There Was One Dawn I Grew Old Watching (2023) | $342,824 | Sotheby's Hong Kong, September 28, 2025 |
| Drifted Petals on Her Lifted Mound (2022) | $179,500 | Sotheby's Hong Kong, March 29, 2025 |
| Unfolding a flood (2022) | $127,000 | Phillips New York, November 2024 |
1 further auction entries on record for Li Hei Di — inside Egon.
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 development
- Limited body of work available
- Ultra-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
- Consistent over performance
- All 2025 sales exceeded high estimates
- Historical high from database
- $952,500
Institutional presence
Research updated
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
Tongues of Flare
- Year
- 2025
- Dates
- May 29 - August 29, 2025
- Venue
- Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
- Traveled to
- Pond Society, Shanghai (November-December 2025)
- Significance
- First solo exhibition with Pace Gallery, 11 new paintings
700 Nights of Winter
- Year
- 2024
- Dates
- March 15 - April 20, 2024
- Venue
- Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London
- Significance
- First European solo exhibition
Oscillating Womb
- Year
- 2023
- Dates
- November 2, 2023 - January 6, 2024
- Venue
- Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles
- Significance
- First US solo exhibition
Tits at Dawn
- Year
- 2022
- Dates
- November 11 - December 18, 2022
- Venue
- LINSEED Projects, Shanghai
- Significance
- First solo exhibition
Major group exhibitions
A Living Collection
- Year
- 2025-2026
- Dates
- February 15, 2025 - Spring 2026
- Venue
- The Hepworth Wakefield, UK
Abstraction (Re)Creation - 20 Under 40
- Year
- 2025
- Dates
- May 25 - October 12, 2025
- Venue
- X Museum, Beijing
- Traveled from
- Le Consortium, Dijon, France (April-September 2024)
The Monster (Curated by Robert Nava)
- Year
- 2025
- Dates
- February 1 - March 22, 2025
- Venue
- Pace Gallery, Los Angeles
Double Vision: The Rachofsky Collection
- Year
- 2025
- Venue
- The Warehouse, Dallas, TX
Wild: Women Abstractionists on Nature
- Year
- 2024
- Dates
- March 21 - June 22, 2024
- Venue
- Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Philippines
Fruit and Fruition
- Year
- 2024
- Dates
- June 28 - August 9, 2024
- Venue
- GRIMM, New York
Home Is Where the Haunt Is (X Museum Triennial 2023)
- Year
- 2023
- Dates
- August 27 - November 26, 2023
- Venue
- X Museum, Beijing
Uncanny Valley
- Year
- 2023
- Dates
- January 31 - March 4, 2023
- Venue
- Gagosian, Hong Kong
- Significance
- Early career inclusion at blue-chip gallery
Museum collections
- Institutional momentum
- Accelerating - multiple Tier 1 and 2 museum acquisitions in 2024, major exhibition presence
Major private collections
Scroll horizontally if needed →
| Location | Collection | Prominence | Acquisition year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas, TX | Rachofsky Collection | Major US contemporary art collection | 2024 |
| Dallas, TX | Green Family Art Foundation | Significant Texas collection with exhibition space | Not supplied |
Career & Biography
Research updated
Career
Career milestones
Scroll horizontally if needed →
| 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
Research updated
- 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 hooks
- Byung-Chul Han
- Mo Yan
- Maggie Nelson
- Paul B. Preciado
- Virginia Woolf
- Georges 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
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 animation
- Performance
Critical Reception
Research updated
Critical reception
Key themes
- Innovative synthesis of abstraction and figuration
- Sophisticated exploration of desire, sexuality, gender fluidity
- Cultural hybridity (Chinese/Western influences)
- Technical mastery of layered painting process
- Works described as 'difficult' in positive sense - reward sustained attention
Monographs
Oscillating Womb (exhibition catalogue)
- Year
- 2024
- Publisher
- Michael Kohn Gallery
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
Scroll horizontally if needed →
Articles Date Type Title Significance January 2026 Market analysis After a 2025 of Over-Performances, Li Hei Di's Market Seems Poised to Take Another Jump This Year Major feature on market trajectory September 2024 Not supplied Emerging Artist Li Hei Di Joins Pace Gallery 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 feature
- Multiple auction result reports
- Profile: '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
Research updated
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
Scroll horizontally if needed →
| 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 |
Sources & research notes
Egon’s artist research combines historical auction records, recent sales, institutional history, critical reception and gallery information. Researched auction records and auction highlights are identified separately.
Read prices with their work, sale date, currency and stated basis. Egon’s market assessments are distinct from reported auction results.
Reference: Egon, “Li Hei Di: Market Intelligence & Investment Profile.”
Research updates by section
These dates show when Egon’s research sections were updated. Source retrieval dates, where supplied above, refer to individual evidence notes.
Ranking updated . Research sections follow their own update dates.
You've seen Li Hei Di's trajectory. The question isn't the data — it's what it means for you. Egon provides acquisition strategies calibrated to your collection and budget.
Get personalized analysisActive market signals
Inside Egon
Signal timeline & strength analysis
Gallery moves, auction records, institutional acquisitions, price milestones — tracked over 90 days
Full signal timeline, strength analysis, and alert configuration for Li Hei Di.
Collector demographics & buyer analysis
Geographic distribution, institutional vs. private buyers, collector profiles, and secondary market activity
Who is collecting Li Hei Di? Geographic distribution, institutional vs. private buyers, and collector profile analysis.
Personalized acquisition strategy
Optimal entry points, comparable pricing analysis, timing recommendations, and portfolio fit assessment
Personalized acquisition strategy for Li Hei Di based on your budget, timeline, and collection goals.
Go deeper with personalized intelligence
You now have Egon's market assessment of Li Hei Di. The next question is personal: does this artist belong in your collection? Egon analyzes collection fit based on your aesthetic thesis, existing holdings, budget, and investment goals — delivering acquisition strategies no public index can provide.