Sizhu Li holds a BFA from Central Academy of Fine Arts (2016) and an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art (2018) with the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship. Currently, she is living and working in Houston, Texas. Sizhu's works have been widely exhibited in Europe and America. Since 2020, her pandemic-inspired touring project Moonment has been well shown internationally, including Contemporary at Blue Star, San Antonio (2025); Viborg Kunsthal, Denmark (2024); Morris Museum, New Jersey (2022); Alabama Contemporary Art Center (2022); Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Georgia (2021); Flux Factory Gallery, New York (2020). She has participated in residency programs at A4 Museum, Chengdu (2024); Marble House Residency, Vermont (2022); 4heads Artists in Residency, New York (2020); Anderson Ranch Residency, Snowmass (2019). In 2025, she received the Individual Artist Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She was awarded the Small Artist Grant from the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance and the Creative Learning Grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2023, the New York City Corps Grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2022. In 2026, she was selected as a finalist for the 18th Prisma Art Prize in Rome, Italy.

Sizhu Li constructs kinetic installations, site-specific and typically large-scale. They are presented in an open forum, where mechanized movements create a percussive environment. In particular, Li pursues a Futurist vision by sometimes generating Sisyphean movements and motorized minimal constructions. These constructions become a contemporary landscape where space is a physical material as much as a piece of metal or wood etc. Li’s works are animated, poetic, and storytelling. Materials, though often unrefined, are treated as fleshy, melancholic, nostalgic characters. Their movements are direct, satisfying, repeated, comforting, and mesmerizing. Together, they immerse viewers in an echo of simplicity within the chaos of modern life—evoking live phenomena like moonlight on the flowing water or wind on young leaves. Li is influenced by Minimalism, Futurism, and Chinese painting, poetry, and philosophy. In ancient times, people lived simpler lives, but still had rich intellectual and spiritual experiences. Li believes that we have something to learn from a spirit of wonder that feeds the human soul and brings communities together.

Biography

Bibliography