A Don Quixote of the AI Era: Painting Cats as Tigers, Zhong Kui Mocking Zhong Kui—Tiejun Li’s Artistic Inquiry at the Venice Biennale
- The Beverly Arts
- 7 hours ago
- 10 min read
Author: Mu Ye
Tiejun Li
Jinbaohui, Beijing, China. 8th April 2026. As the artistic wave of the 61st Venice Biennale sweeps across the European continent, the global art community gathers to use the language of the visual—amidst the collision of the figurative and the abstract, form and concept—to conduct a profound inquiry into human existence, the order of the times, and the value of truth. In this international event, which combines artistic excellence with intellectual acuity, artist Tiejun Li presents large-scale prints and mixed-media works, voicing a resounding, thunderous cry on the global stage through his unique artistic language. He appears as a Don Quixote of this new era—obsessively driven—and simultaneously as Zhong Kui, who paints cats to stand in for tigers, steadfastly upholding justice amidst the confusion of truth and illusion. Wielding his brush like a blade, he dissects the chaotic surface of the current international landscape, satirizing the opportunistic and sordid machinations of politicians and merchants while remaining true to his original commitment to peace and justice. Even more significant is how his work resonates with the millennia-long Western philosophical quest for truth, cognition, order, and morality—spanning from Bacon’s critique of cognitive idols to Hegel’s logical structure of the world, and from Kant’s moral categorical imperative to Spinoza’s concept of God as Nature. Using art as a medium, Tiejun Li fuses philosophical inquiry with social critique, allowing his works to transcend mere visual aesthetics and become a profound response to the era’s cognitive dilemmas, the collapse of values, and the breakdown of order.
Tiejun Li has never been an artist who drifts with the tide; his creative practice is deeply rooted in the times and confronts reality head-on. Possessing the clarity and unyielding integrity of an intellectual, he has forged a unique and inimitable path of artistic expression. The works presented at this Venice Biennale represent the culmination of his artistic philosophy and creative techniques. The massive scale of the artwork creates an overwhelming visual impact, mirroring the heavy sense of unease felt by the world amidst the current chaotic and disordered international landscape. The exquisite texture of the printmaking, combined with a diverse fusion of mixed media, transcends the traditional boundaries of the medium; artistic expression is no longer confined to mere color and line but rises to the level of a clash of concepts and a transmission of ideas. Eschewing the artificiality of labored craftsmanship, the colors strike a chord through their natural, unadorned quality—each hue carries emotion, and every brushstroke conveys an attitude—allowing the work to surpass mere aesthetic value and become a vessel for reflecting on the times and voicing a cry for justice. This depth of artistic expression aligns with the Western philosophical tradition of probing the layers of cognition, truth, and morality, endowing the work with an intellectual weight that transcends time and space.
Artwork by Tiejun Li
In Novum Organum, Francis Bacon identified four "Idols" that imprison the human mind—the Idols of the Tribe, the Cave, the Marketplace, and the Theatre—as the greatest obstacles to grasping truth and perceiving the true nature of the world. The Idols of the Tribe stem from the innate human tendency to subjectively distort reality; the Idols of the Cave arise from the narrow, one-sided nature of individual perception; the Idols of the Marketplace originate in the ambiguity and confusion of language; and the Idols of the Theatre represent blind adherence to established authority, dogma, and ideology. The chaos and disorder of today’s world are the bitter fruits of these four Idols running rampant: certain politicians and capitalists, driven by self-interest, construct false "theatres of authority" and use rhetoric to sow cognitive confusion akin to the Idols of the Marketplace. They amplify cognitive biases through racial and ideological prejudices, plunging the public into a fog of misunderstanding where the true nature of hegemonic struggles and opportunistic profiteering remains obscured. Justice and truth are hidden behind layers of illusion, while peace and conscience fall victim to the forces of capital and power. Tiejun Li’s artistic practice employs the visual as a weapon to puncture the illusory perceptions depicted by Bacon, strip away layers of hypocritical artifice, and expose the world’s raw ugliness and absurdity to the public, thereby awakening minds clouded by falsehoods.
Building upon the foundation of empiricism, Thomas Hobbes posited that human knowledge originates in sensory experience and is shaped into an understanding of the world through rational processing, while the construction of order stems from a shared recognition of common rules and values. In Hobbes’s framework, a world devoid of shared values and the constraints of order inevitably descends into a "war of all against all." The current international landscape bears out Hobbes’s warning: when politicians abandon the public conscience and business leaders disregard moral boundaries—shattering the global order in pursuit of self-interest—human society teeters on the brink of cognitive disorder and the collapse of values. Concepts such as knowledge, truth, and justice are distorted into mere tools for safeguarding private interests. Tiejun Li reconstructs cognition and order through painting, redefining the essence of justice and peace via visual language. He seeks to use the emotive power of art to rebuild values shattered by utilitarianism, allowing people to rediscover the meaning of justice and conscience; this constitutes both an artistic extension of and a real-world response to Hobbes’s theories of knowledge and order.
Venice, Italy
Spinoza’s philosophical proposition that "God is Nature" fuses the natural world with the divine, asserting the existence of objective, eternal natural laws and a just order that operate independently of human will. All things in the universe function in accordance with this ultimate law, and any act that violates natural law or disrupts the just order is ultimately rejected by the laws of the cosmos. In Spinoza’s philosophy, divinity is not an abstract, supernatural force, but rather the fairness, justice, and harmony inherent in nature itself—the ultimate values that human society ought to pursue. The Zhong Kui depicted by Tiejun Li serves as an artistic embodiment of Spinoza’s natural laws and just order; his mission is to vanquish demons and evil spirits, thereby safeguarding the natural harmony and equitable justice that ought to prevail in the world. The chaos of the present era represents, in essence, a reckless trampling of the ultimate laws inherent in the concept that "God is Nature"; Zhong Kui’s bewilderment mirrors the collective loss of values experienced by humanity after violating these laws of natural justice.
Leibniz’s proposition that "the world we inhabit is the best of all possible worlds" is not a blind affirmation of reality, but rather a firm belief that the world harbors an innate potential for perfection, harmony, and justice. Even the existence of evil and disorder constitutes merely localized fluctuations within the overall harmonious order; humanity’s mission is to dispel this chaos and strive to realize that ultimate harmony. Tiejun Li’s artistic practice is consistently imbued with this Leibnizian idealism: despite a contemporary world rife with conflict, hypocrisy, and the silencing of justice, he remains convinced that peace and justice constitute the ultimate destiny of human society. Like a steadfast idealist on a journey, he uses art to convey his aspirations for a better world; through critique and impassioned calls to action, he urges the world to cast off localized chaos and ugliness, moving instead toward that "best of all possible worlds"—filled with harmony and justice—envisioned by Leibniz.
Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy defines the moral law as an a priori, absolute, and unconditional "categorical imperative." Independent of self-interest, emotion, or external circumstances, this imperative is an innate moral principle within the human heart—the ultimate standard for distinguishing right from wrong, good from evil, and justice from injustice. For Kant, true justice and goodness do not stem from utilitarian calculation but from absolute obedience to the moral imperative; it is the act of steadfastly upholding one’s inner moral conscience, even in the absence of supervision or amidst adversity. In contrast, certain contemporary politicians and business people have utterly abandoned Kant’s categorical imperative, placing self-interest above morality and treating justice merely as a tool for opportunism, thereby plunging human society into a crisis of moral decline. Tiejun Li's creative work serves as an artistic embodiment of Kant’s moral law; disregarding personal gain or loss and undaunted by power, he wields his paintbrush as a weapon to uphold his inner moral principles and the bottom line of justice. Through an artistic outcry, he vehemently denounces base acts that violate moral imperatives, calling upon humanity to reclaim its moral conscience and restore the "categorical imperative" as the guiding principle of conduct.
Venice, Italy
Hegel, centering his philosophy on the "Absolute Spirit," constructed a logical framework for the world, positing that the world is a process of the Absolute Spirit’s self-evolution and self-realization. He argued that history and society follow rigorous logical laws of development: justice will ultimately triumph over evil, chaos will give way to order, and human society—amidst contradictions and conflicts—continually evolves toward the ultimate goal of the Absolute Spirit. Hegel’s philosophy teaches us that the contemporary chaos and clash of values are inevitable contradictions within the world's logical development; the driving force behind resolving these contradictions and reconstructing order lies in those awakened individuals who steadfastly uphold truth and justice. Tiejun Li is precisely such an awakened figure within the context of Hegelian philosophy. Insightful regarding the logical laws of global development, he uses art as a point of entry to engage with the contradictions of the era and critique the ugliness of reality. In his own way, he advances the self-realization of the Absolute Spirit, helping a chaotic world return to the path of logic and order.
At the spiritual core of his work, Tiejun Li transforms into a Don Quixote of the new era. This state of "obsessive zeal"—bordering on the fanatical—represents an uncompromising stance against the chaos of reality and a tenacious commitment to the ideal of justice; it is, furthermore, an artistic enactment of the aforementioned philosophical ideas. Rather than shying away from reality or pandering to mundane aesthetics and the preferences of capital, he confronts the world's ugliness with the sincerity and courage of an artist. This seemingly obstinate "obsession" embodies the most precious sense of responsibility and commitment in contemporary art—an ultimate dedication to the original intent of art, philosophical truth, and human justice.
The figure of Zhong Kui—rendered with profound irony and wit—further elevates the work’s critique of the times and its philosophical inquiry to new depths. Traditionally, Zhong Kui is a deity from folklore who subdues demons and upholds justice—an embodiment of righteousness and integrity. Yet, in Tiejun Li’s artistic interpretation, the Zhong Kui of our times is mired in unprecedented confusion and inner conflict. He substitutes the tiger with the cat, using a playful approach to deconstruct authority and puncture the hypocritical masks of those who cloak themselves in righteousness while engaging in sordid deeds. He creates absurd scenes of "Zhong Kui playing with Zhong Kui," pitting the embodiment of justice against itself; this serves as a metaphor for the distortion and alienation of justice in the current international context, where those who proclaim themselves champions of justice and demon-slayers are often the very malevolent forces creating chaos and wreaking havoc on the world. In a reality where truth and falsehood are blurred and right and wrong are inverted, true justice finds itself with nowhere to anchor. This sense of bewilderment reflects both a profound insight into contemporary reality and a deep philosophical contemplation regarding the loss of truth, the erosion of morality, and the collapse of order.
Venice, Italy
As an artist who consistently engages with the times and delves deeply into both art theory and practice, Tiejun Li creates works that transcend mere visual presentation; they are expressions of thought and spirit—a perfect fusion of philosophical inquiry and artistic language. He understands that the essence of art lies in responding to reality, documenting the era, and—above all—safeguarding conscience and truth. On the international stage of the Venice Biennale, he neither panders to Western aesthetics nor settles for superficial stylistic expression. Instead, adopting the perspective of a Chinese artist with a global outlook, he confronts the shared existential dilemmas and philosophical questions facing humanity. Through works that blend an Eastern spiritual core with Western philosophical depth and a contemporary artistic vocabulary, he engages in a dialogue with the world and makes his voice heard in the present age. His art embodies both the idealistic edge of Don Quixote and the steadfast commitment to justice of Zhong Kui; it combines the critical force of wit and irony with profound humanistic concern. While his techniques break new ground—expanding the expressive boundaries of painting and mixed-media art—his ideas strike at the heart of the human condition, weaving Western philosophical inquiries into cognition, truth, morality, and order into a critique of reality and a pursuit of justice. In an era rife with chaos, where justice falls silent and perception is clouded by illusion, Tiejun Li stands as a solitary warrior. He uses art as a torch to illuminate the murkiness and his brush as a sword to shatter falsehoods. His work empowers contemporary art to confront reality directly, demonstrates the sense of responsibility and commitment held by Chinese artists, and serves as a spiritual bridge connecting philosophical truth with human reality.
The value of art has never been limited to beauty alone; it lies in awakening the times, safeguarding conscience, pursuing truth, and reconstructing order. Tiejun Li’s presentation at the Venice Biennale serves as a manifesto of justice through art—a powerful riposte to the world's chaos and a steadfast exploration of ultimate human values and philosophical truths. The Zhong Kui he depicts, though sometimes bewildered, never ceases the quest to vanquish evil; like Don Quixote, he runs with unwavering determination, never halting despite the absurdity of reality. This steadfast commitment to justice, yearning for peace, and pursuit of truth represents the very spiritual strength most scarce in today’s world—and constitutes the core of Tiejun Li’s work, giving it the power to move hearts and imbuing it with profound contemporary and philosophical significance.
May this impassioned call—raised in the name of art and infused with philosophical inquiry—awaken more consciences, shatter more cognitive illusions, restore moral law as the guiding principle of human conduct, and lead the world back to a just order of natural harmony. May it inspire us, amidst chaos and confusion, to ceaselessly pursue and move toward that best of all possible worlds. As for Tiejun Li—an artistic wayfarer steadfastly traversing the vast wilderness of the times—he will continue to wield his pen as a blade, art as a shield, and philosophy as his soul, pressing ever forward on the quest for justice, truth, and peace with undiminished vigor.
The Beverly Arts News is sponsored by Art Hearts Fashion, Chinese American Cultural Exchange Association, MDSUN, XAVVI, Shennel Trading, Crab Grabber, ISEGSTAR, World Peace One, Cynthia Clarté, InLight Foundation, Jiannan Huang Art Institute, Liu Chun Art Studio in Beverly, Yi Ke Art in Beverly, Wenkang Xue Design Studio, and The Beverly Arts Foundation
