Li Shan was born in Beijing as a self-taught artist. Without official endorsement, she joined the Yuyuantan Lake School of painting in the 1970s and later practiced art as one of the main members of the No Name (Wuming) Art Group. From that period till now, Li Shan keeps focusing on subject matter that she would revisit throughout my practice: courtyards, pagodas, city streets, country roads, and architecture.
She is currently living and working in Beijing. Her solo exhibitions include "Drawing and Drawing: Heading Out and Bending Down" (Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2021), "Li Shan's List" (STAR Gallery, Beijing, 2021), "Li Shan" (Art Basel HongKong, Hongkong, 2019), "Fuxing Renaissance" (Don Gallery, Shanghai, 2017), "Li Shan: New and Selected Works" (James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai, 2015), "Works from the 1970s" (James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai, 2014), "Flow" (La Case, Beijing, 2007) and "Li Shan's Solo Exhibition" (TRA Gallery, Beijing, 2006). Her works are in distinguished museum collections such as the M+ Museum and White Rabbit Gallery and numerous private collections of notes in China, Australia, Canada, the United States, and Europe.