Location: Xi Ujimqin Banner, Inner Mongolia
Medium: Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Ultra Smooth 305g
Edition: 6/15
Framing: Aluminum alloy frame
This work distills the vitality of horses into a pure and highly restrained visual language through minimalist black-and-white photography. In the image, the heads of six white horses cluster gently together, while their flowing manes emerge softly in the high-contrast tonal range, nearly dissolving into the plain background. Against this field of whiteness, the dark eyes of the horses become subtle yet powerful points of focus. Abandoning a complete narrative description of the animal, this work isolates its most expressive fragment, transforming representational "form" into an abstract image charged with formal clarity and quiet spirituality. Between presence and absence, gathering and dispersal, it conveys a meditative and enduring sense of life.
Li Gang is a council member of the China Artistic Photography Society and President of the Photographers Branch of the China Horse Industry Association. In 2009, he received the 8th China Photography Golden Image Award. His photobooks Xiang yu Chouxiang and A Group of Horses, Full of Stars were awarded China's "Most Beautiful Book" in 2020 and 2022 respectively. He has held solo exhibitions at institutions including the National Art Museum of China, the China National Academy of Arts, and the China Photography Exhibition Hall, and has participated many times in art festivals and exhibitions in China and abroad. He also held the joint exhibitions Horse and Horse and Mountain and Horse respectively with Yann Arthus-Bertrand, member of the French Academy of Arts, and Japanese photographer Kubota Hiroji. His published books include Appointment with Landscape, Snowfield . Horses, Reincarnation, Xiang yu Chouxiang, A Group of Horses, Full of Stars, and the French-language edition PARADISBLANC published by GEO France. His works are collected by the National Art Museum of China, the French agency AKG Images, and private collectors.