what it is?

Artist Visits brings patrons, emerging collectors, and curious art viewers into artists’ studios and independent art spaces.

Founded by artists,
we look beyond the institutional filter and art market noise to foster direct connections between patrons and artists. We believe the most meaningful art encounters often happen not in traditional exhibition settings,
but in the unexpected, unfinished moments of a studio visit.

Starting in Shanghai and New York,
our personalized visits are guided cultural experiences that provide insight into how artistic practices develop, circulate, and sustain themselves across different cultural contexts.

We create opportunities for patrons to engage with the cultural and systemic conditions that shape contemporary art, allowing their support to be more informed and impactful.

Through direct encounters with artists at different career stages in their studios, participants gain a deeper understanding of the integrity of artistic practice. We highlight the dedication and resilience that sustain artists’ work beyond immediate market demand, fostering more long-term and cross-cultural forms of support.

We believe that patronage can be intimate, ethical, and reciprocal.

Our model bridges access and care,
connecting patrons not only to artworks, but to artists’ worlds, working conditions, questions, and visions.
Each visit is carefully hosted, artist-centered, and built around authenticity, trust, and exchange.

Through studio visits and private cultural journeys, Artist Visits cultivates quieter, more profound relationships between artists and those who want to understand and champion their work, inviting participants to reimagine what it means to be a patron today.

Amiko Li is an artist, educator, and cultural organizer working between Shanghai and New York. His artistic practice and professional experience are deeply rooted in care and attention to the art ecology and system, spanning artistic production, teaching and workshops, institutional engagement, and community collaboration.

His work has been exhibited and performed internationally at UCCA Beijing, Power Station of Art Shanghai, Center for Arts, Research, and Alliances in New York, and Haus der Elektronischen Künste in Switzerland. He has collaborated directly with foundations and non-profit organizations include Asymmetry Foundation, Asia Art Archive in America, and Goethe Institut. He has been an artist-in-residence at Delfina Foundation, Künstler*innenhaus Dortmund, and Triangle Arts, and has taught at UC San Diego, Smith College, University of Georgia, and Rutgers University.

As Founder and Director of Artist Visits, Li brings an artist-led perspective to building trust-based encounters between artists, patrons, independent spaces, and institutions across China and United States.

Tianran Qian is a transdisciplinary creative strategist and producer specializing in digital communications, new media, and emerging technologies for cultural institutions and global brands. Working alongside JiaJia Fei, she develops digital and social strategies for client partners including the Independent Art Fair, Making Their Mark Foundation, and Canyon Museum. Her production experience spans digital talent agency work at OUTPUT in Shanghai, producing digital campaigns for Bulgari, Adidas, and BMW, and international procurement coordination with Lanningsmith Studio for Estée Lauder. Tianran also holds a creative practice exploring digital infrastructures and independent organizing through art, research, and self-publishing. She holds an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design and a BA from New York University, with work exhibited at art book fairs at Pioneer Works, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Art Book Fair.