Xiao Guo Hui’s “Little Pleasures of Life” is a catalogue comprised of numerous compositions by the Chinese-born painter, each of them striking, theatrical, and slightly disquieting.

With his medium of choice, egg tempera on linen and drawing inspiration from the style of Italian Renaissance painters, Xiao Guo Hui is a master of the unsettling. He investigates morality through sensibilities both old and new. The artist investigates the theme of “play,” his compositions hinting at something sinister yet sumptuous within the term. Indeed, it is the unsettling in his work that is most provocative: representations of unseeing innocence within devilish plots, poise within mania, and costumes that are old-world at times, modern at others; some flowing and elaborate, some skin-tight.

The catalogue features reproductions of 8 works, from 2009-2010, and an introduction by Rhonda Olson, which thoughtfully considers the artist’s influences and impact.