Provenance：
Illustrated："Li Chen’s Sculpture 1992 - 2002," Asia Art Center, Taipei Taiwan, 2004, P. 84-87 (different edition and size)
"Li Chen in 52nd Venice Biennale- Energy of Emptiness," Asia Art Center, 2007, P.132-135 (different edition and size)
"Li Chen- In Search of Spiritual Space," Asia Art Center, 2008, Page 58-63 (different edition and size)
"Li Chen: Soul Guardians - In an Age of Disasters and Calamities" Asia Art Center, Taipei Taiwan, 2009, Page 160, 174, 176 (different edition)
Exhibition："Li Chen - In Search of Spiritual Space," National Art Museum of China, Beijing, April 29th - May 11th, 2008 (different edition)
"Li Chen - Soul Guardians Solo Exhibition," Asia Art Center, Taipei Taiwan October 18th, 2008 - February 21st, 2009 (different edition)
Exposition：
“Li Chen’s sculpture is the type of art that is unforgettable, their unique appearance conveys an intense style that amaze us, ‘like a visitor from the sky disturbing the line of sight, as well as independence of ancient classics’” --- Fan Di’an, former director of the National Art Museum of China
Born in Yunlin, Taiwan in 1963, Li Chen is recognized alongside world renowned contemporary artists such as Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, and Antony Gormley; as one of the top ten sculptor in the world. The context of his art embodies strong oriental rhythm and western minimalist style. His works are deeply rooted in the two houses of philosophy: Buddhism and Taoism; while combining with contemporary perspectives. Li’s artistic expression abandons the conventional Chinese Buddhist imagery; instead a natural form occurs when elements of roundness, largeness, fullness and blissfulness is shown, cleverly demonstrating the contrasting tension that is both “heavy and light.”
The medium’s consistency of color and texture is strongly supervised by the artist. Unrestraint by size, Li Chen freely constructs the skeleton of the sculpture with wood, and later proceed with a series of complicated and trivial production process utilizing clay and copper casting. He developed an innovative method using furnace fire to transform the physical framework of the bronze sculpture; in result the thickness of the copper is polished and displaying only three colors – the warmth of gold, vitality of black and purity of silver. His creations convey an ethereal exquisiteness that embellish the value and energy of the material; shown with infinite vitality, the metal’s coldness disappeared, leaving behind a warm and rich texture.
Examining Li Chen’s creative journey, his early series The Beauty of Emptiness from 1992 to 1997 still remain true to semiotic image of the Buddha statue, although there are slight differences in structure. From 1998 to 2000, The Energy of Emptiness series demonstrated undesired and tranquil qualities, the open face coupled with air filled body, is similar to the ancient Buddhist statues of the Six Dynasties in spirituality and meaning. In 2001, the beginning of the Spiritual Journey Through the Great Ether series, Li Chen explored the possibilities of spiritual space that is empty but not absent, in hope to achieve the proper balance between “inner” and “beyond.” From 2008 to 2009, the Soul Guardian series discussed the significance of “God” for humanity and the meaning of eternal life. This was followed by The Beacon: When Night Light Glimmers series in 2009-2010, for the first time, his subjects were presented with identifiable realistic and anatomical depiction of human body. In 2001, Li Chen produced the Ethereal Cloud series, the first time he showed cast stainless steel pieces, which ingeniously imitated clouds and smoke. For Li, these cyclical phenomena are imbued with their own soul.
“Meditation” belong to the Spiritual Journey Through the Great Ether series, the figure is shown with satiated facial expression and lively gesture that is relaxed but without losing its sense of grandeur. The figure in the work stretches both hands high above his head, holding a golden figure which represents the "Buddha" or an equally “Godly” figure. The positioning of the golden figure and it’s use of gold is an emphasis on its importance. As Li Chen has said himself, through art he finds peace and is enable to discover the spirit and material of the world. The artist believes the perfect life for humanity is not limited to material desires but also the search for their own inner and spiritual world; neither world can exist without the other. By transforming Taoist and Buddhist philosophy into contemporary art vocabulary, the robust and tranquil sculpture heightens the materiality of the medium, with delicate details in color purity and light to dark transitions. His rounded and harmonious figure enable the viewers to feel the co-existence of energy of emptiness and fullness, and the simplicity brimming with the beauty of natural style, an unprecedented visual stimulation.
View More Works