One look at artist Li Jikai's paintings is enough to identify any of his other works, so recognizable is his style. He often uses shades of grays and yellows, with accents of reds and blues standing out from the often broad brushstrokes. Boys and boxes feature heavily; sometimes both in the same work. Often the box has a face, more often the boy is a lonely figure in a gray environment.

"It's just a boy, which was very abstract when I first painted it in 1999. And in 2002, the image of the boy was formed but with a horn on his head or a tail. In fact, it doesn't matter what he looks like. What I need is a figure in the painting," the 36yearold artist said.

Li, a Sichuan native, graduated with master of fine arts from Sichuan Fine Arts Academy in 2004, and is now working at the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts.

His new exhibition Within You, Without You has just opened at Baiziwan gallery Dialogue Space.

"Since my first solo exhibition in Germany, I have been working on painting all the time. And this solo exhibition is not a start of new period or a review of the past. It just shows what my art world is," Li said.

"In Li Jikai's past works, communication is always hidden deep within the painting. He built a sealed scenery for the characters in the painting whose eyes are closed tight, and elements like a large table, a thunderbolt, an innocent puppet, dead branches etc. form a sealed world of their own," Li Ying, the curator said, describing Li's body of work.

Li also mentioned that Li Jikai's recent works unveiled the new change. His imagined world is starting to get closer to the real world with works like Fast Decaying Skull and An Era of Selfrealization.

Three of Li's recent sculptures including Daydream, Throwing Up and Mushroom and the Boy are also exhibited.