Freud believed that human instinctive impulses come from subconscious desires, and that art and dreams are the products of transferred desires. In "Green Snake" (1993) directed by Tsui Hark, the use of color and scenery adds a avant-garde aesthetic to this erotic story: the lotus pond transformed by the white snake is often shrouded in mist; when the green snake appears in the pond, When he revealed his true form, all the lotus flowers in the pond flashed with faint will-o'-the-wisps.

In “Oscillating Womb,” Li Hei Di’s new solo show at Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles, limbs, torsos, and fauna intermingle, fizzing and crackling in swirls of deep color and luminescent light. In a style that is neither figurative nor abstract, the Chinese, London-based artist captures the ephemerality of desire, encounter, and connection through painting.

Ascending a dim, narrow staircase—sometimes navigating around artists carrying canvases—and through a weighty metal door, I enter the studio of Li Hei Di (b. 1997). By London standards, her studio feels spacious. Its walls play host to her expansive artworks, many yet unfinished. Ethereal figures appear submerged in shallow waters within these canvases but are only visible when I pause long enough to see them. The figures, bathed in a glow of soft fluorescent lights, are mythical and cinematic at once.