Li Rui was born in 1984 in Shanxi Province, China, and belongs to the Hani ethnic minority. He began his formal training at the Wu Zuoren Art School in Beijing in 1998. He later enrolled at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2005 and completed a Master of Fine Arts in Oil Painting in 2008.
Li Rui’s painting practice centers on highly detailed representations of birds and eggs. His visual language combines scientific precision with symbolic intensity, often drawing from natural history as a lens for existential reflection. With a focus on form, texture, and material presence, his works invite contemplation of absence, mortality, and the fragile boundaries between life and death. This approach situates biological subjects as metaphoric stand-ins for broader questions of existence. 

In 2024, Li Rui participated in the group exhibition (Between) Heaven & Earth at Redbase Art Sydney. 

Li Rui is regarded as an innovative oil painter whose practice merges academic realism with contemporary symbolism grounded in natural memory. His works are held in collections across Asia, Europe, and the United States, reflecting a sustained interest in visualizing biological and existential realities through a poetic and painterly lens.  He has held solo exhibitions in Paris, New York, and Bangkok, and shown his works at institutions such as the Amway Gallery and Onyang Folk Museum in Korea, as well as various museums and galleries in China and Chicago. His exhibitions have extended across both academic and contemporary art spaces, marking his ongoing engagement with cross-cultural dialogues.