What Will You See at Li Hei Di’s the year of mud in New York?

Short answer

the year of mud is Li Hei Di first solo exhibition with Pace Gallery in New York.

Short answer

the year of mud is Li Hei Di’s first solo exhibition with Pace Gallery in New York, on view from November 6 through December 19, 2026, at 540 West 25th Street in Chelsea. The London-based artist presents new paintings that exist between figuration and abstraction, where forms continually shift and transform.

Key facts

• Exhibition: Li Hei Di: the year of mud
• Location: Pace Gallery, 540 West 25th Street, New York
• Dates: November 6 – December 19, 2026
• Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 AM–6 PM
• Admission: Free

What will you see?

You will see new paintings that Li Hei Di created during what the artist describes as “a year of reckoning.” The works inhabit a space between figuration and abstraction, rendered in a rich, almost shimmering palette. Forms surface, recede, and transform as you look at them.

Li’s figures are never fixed. They shift between states of becoming, allowing the body to function less as a stable form than as a vessel through which memory, emotion, and desire flow.

The exhibition takes its title from the Chinese creation myth of Nüwa, the goddess who created humans by dipping a rope in muddy water and swinging it through the air. As Li explains: “I kept picturing my body, a droplet of mud, flying through midair and dipping back into the fertile mud of possibility.”

Why does this exhibition matter?

This is Li Hei Di’s first solo exhibition with Pace in New York since joining the gallery’s program in 2024. The artist, who works between London and Beijing, has developed a distinctive practice that holds beauty and suffering in the same breath.

The paintings document transformation—both personal and universal. They invite close looking while also functioning as all-encompassing, dreamlike atmospheres where fragmentation becomes a condition of transformation rather than loss.

How do you visit?

Pace Gallery is located at 540 West 25th Street in Chelsea, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM. Admission is free.

The nearest subway stations are 23rd Street (C, E lines) and 28th Street (1 line). The High Line is two blocks west.

FAQ

Is there an opening reception?

The exhibition opened on November 6, 2026. No additional public events have been announced.

How long does a visit take?

Plan for 20 to 40 minutes. The gallery occupies a single floor, and the paintings reward slow looking.

Can I take photos?

Photography for personal use is generally permitted at Pace Gallery. Flash and tripods are not allowed.

About Antre

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Sources

• Pace Gallery, exhibition page for Li Hei Di: the year of mud: dates, works, artist biography and exhibition description.
• Pace Gallery, visitor information: address and hours.

More context: our guides to Jasper Johns’s Recent Drawings at Matthew Marks and Zeng Fanzhi at Hauser & Wirth New York.