Hongtao Li TCCII Featured Artist Artist, Opera Singer, Master Healer

Mr. Li Hong-Tao was born and raised in coastal city of Da-Lian in northeast China, Liao-Ning Province. He was the eldest in a middle class family of five children. When he was 10, his parents sent him to study Qi, Chinese herb and acupuncture medicine with a Taoist. His father died of cancer when Mr. Li was only thirteen, and by that time, his mother had also lost most of her sight due to severe eye disease. Mr. Li was forced to drop out of school to become the breadwinner of the family. At age 16, his desire for higher education drove him to study and apply for an electrical engineering school. He was accepted as an exceptional talent, but the Cultural Revolution interfered with his plans. For years, he had to take on odd jobs such as a construction worker or attending a limestone kiln to make a living. But two hobbies and talents of his got him through those difficult years: he was born with a dramatic tenor voice and his ability in drawing and painting. Eventually, he found himself as a vocalist in a national entertaining group in the capital city of China and finally he had more access and means to pursue a career in oil painting. Despite the instability of his early years, there was one constant throughout his life, his affinity for fine art.

Mr. Li Hong-Tao started drawing at a very young age, helping his mother make arts and crafts to supplement their family income. While he never had an opportunity to get a formal education in painting, he sought every opportunity he could to visit art exhibitions and read books in Chinese and European art history. Many well-known Chinese and Western painters became his idols. Names such as Qi BaiShi, Bada Shanren, Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, de Kooning and Kandinsky all influenced and inspired him. In almost all his leisure time, he immersed himself painting.

His passion and skill for painting, his ability to observe and absorb and his depth of life experience led him to master and create his own style of painting. The rolling waves of the ocean he grew up observing, his attainments in music and Chinese medicinal philosophy – all can be seen in the brushstrokes of his paintings. His paintings are passionate, vibrant, dynamic and spontaneous, often upbeat and joyous, constantly changing and evolving. Many professional painters and art critics alike have praised Mr. Li’s unique style and achievement in oil paintings.

Master Hongtao Li's art is featured on our guided meditation CDs and MP3s.

Class and Seminar Schedule