Shi Lifeng, Red Cage, Undated

Oil on canvas
100 x 100 cm
Condition: Very good

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Shi Lifeng (Chinese, b. 1968) was born in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, and graduated from Hebei Normal University in 1991. Since the early 1990s he has built a reputation as one of China’s distinctive contemporary painters. He is best known for his Red Man series, in which anonymous scarlet figures, often puppet-like or climbing in groups, serve as symbols of collective struggle, social pressure, and the search for individual freedom. His works balance darkness and intensity with a sense of resilience and hope, marked by his striking use of red and black. Shi has exhibited widely in China, Singapore, and internationally, and in 2008 his painting Red Star was chosen as the cover art for Guns N’ Roses’ album Chinese Democracy.

With striking colours on canvas, Shi Lifeng empowers his viewers to see compelling challenges faced in China. Unique to the artist, his red characters struggle to break free from encaged poverty by flying, sometimes falling. Living life on the edge means one often takes risks in hopes of being rewarded with a better future.

(Photographed in October 2025)