Sanctuary Hall
July 19, 2026 - September 20th, 2026
Temple Toy brings together tintypes, calligraphy, photographs, writings, and sculptural objects developed through Max Li’s ongoing relationship with Chicago, sacred space, memory, and everyday life. Moving between improvisation and ritual, the exhibition treats objects as emotional devices, small monuments, jokes, relics, and temporary sites of attention. Ancient forms, toy-like materials, devotional gestures, and contemporary fragments coexist within a playful and open-ended landscape where sacredness appears not as certainty, but as a shifting human condition.
Max Li is an interdisciplinary artist from China, based in Chicago.
Working across photography, tintype, object-making, installation, and contemporary digital tools, his practice explores how meaning is shaped through encounter, memory, ritual, and lived experience. Often working through time-based processes, social exchanges, and site-responsive interventions, his work investigates the relationship between the sacred and the everyday, attending to how meaning accumulates through improvisation, repetition, participation, and duration.
Li holds an MFA from the University of Chicago and a BFA with Honors from the University of California, Irvine. Beyond his studio practice, he works across cultural programming, design, and creative strategy as Art Director of Big House Studio, a Chicago-based creative studio focused on collaborative design and production. He also develops arts and cultural initiatives with institutions and communities, including his work at the historic First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, where he helps activate civic and sacred spaces through exhibitions, performances, workshops, communal gatherings, and other site-responsive public programs.
RSVP for the opening reception on Sunday, July 19th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the link below:
RSVP for the closing reception on Sunday, September 20th from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the link below:
Click HERE for more information on gallery hours and private appointments.
Sanctuary Hall
July 19, 2026 - September 20th, 2026
Temple Toy brings together tintypes, calligraphy, photographs, writings, and sculptural objects developed through Max Li’s ongoing relationship with Chicago, sacred space, memory, and everyday life. Moving between improvisation and ritual, the exhibition treats objects as emotional devices, small monuments, jokes, relics, and temporary sites of attention. Ancient forms, toy-like materials, devotional gestures, and contemporary fragments coexist within a playful and open-ended landscape where sacredness appears not as certainty, but as a shifting human condition.
Max Li is an interdisciplinary artist from China, based in Chicago.
Working across photography, tintype, object-making, installation, and contemporary digital tools, his practice explores how meaning is shaped through encounter, memory, ritual, and lived experience. Often working through time-based processes, social exchanges, and site-responsive interventions, his work investigates the relationship between the sacred and the everyday, attending to how meaning accumulates through improvisation, repetition, participation, and duration.
Li holds an MFA from the University of Chicago and a BFA with Honors from the University of California, Irvine. Beyond his studio practice, he works across cultural programming, design, and creative strategy as Art Director of Big House Studio, a Chicago-based creative studio focused on collaborative design and production. He also develops arts and cultural initiatives with institutions and communities, including his work at the historic First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, where he helps activate civic and sacred spaces through exhibitions, performances, workshops, communal gatherings, and other site-responsive public programs.
RSVP for the opening reception on Sunday, July 19th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the link below:
RSVP for the closing reception on Sunday, September 20th from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the link below:
Click HERE for more information on gallery hours and private appointments.
