Inside Li Bolin’s Artistic Style When @libolinbliss began posting his work to Instagram, it was partly a reaction to the tightly controlled art education in China. As a child, he fell in love with drawing, and pursued it up to the country’s highly prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts. However, as he told us in an email conversation, he “began making art because I hate doing what other people want me to do... I only do what I want to do.” Bolin has since accrued a cult Instagram following, won over the likes of @kanyewest, @danielarsham and @Steve.Lacy, and collaborated with @off____white and @idk. He describes his style as “graffiti with ink”, blending the materials and pigments of Chinese art with the contemporary style. Fittingly, his influences range from Mu Xin and Lin Fengmian - pioneers of blending western and Chinese art forms. “Every painting changes as the water dries up. I paint 50%, and the remaining 50% is done by water and ink. I don’t have to be too serious, water and ink have their own destiny, that’s life, a Chinese philosophy.” It’s key to Bolin that he captures the zeitgeist, enabled by his medium. As he writes, “We are in a time of rapid change. If I have an idea now, I will draw it today or finish it tomorrow and post it on Instagram to see how people feel about it, and based on their reactions, I will decide what to do next, but if I take a month to draw that idea, it loses its value...”. Bolin is fascinated by the cultural figures he depicts: “I care more about the designer or art director behind it than the brand, It's like there is no art, only the artist.” Although he has “great respect for all of [the subjects]”, he has been particularly impacted by his "mentor" Virgil Abloh: “I learned a lot about his views on design and art and creativity from the book ‘Abloh-isms’. He's actually the Duchamp of our time. He never asked me where I was from, where I lived, what colour I was. He just asked me for a collaboration, giving me an opportunity. He was really generous." “I don't know what the future holds. Let's wait and see - as I've learned from water and ink, no matter how hard I try, there's still 50% I have to leave to fate."