Li Chen

Li Chen or Li Zhen is a sculptor. He was born in 1963 in Yunlin County, Taiwan.

Early life and education Li attended Taichung Municipal Dajia Senior High School. Before joining Taiwan's mandatory military service, Li took up a position in the workshop of local sculptor Hsieh Tung-liang where he studied body sculpture.

Career Two of Li's early art series The Beauty of Emptiness and Energy of Emptiness use simple minimalist lines that create an aesthetic of emptiness to reinterpreted the image of Buddha statues. In the Spiritual Journey Through the Great Ether series, Li is less limited by tradition, inventing a technique that incorporates gold and silver leaf on the exterior of his bronze sculptures.

Soul Guardians was inspired by Li's reflections on the occurrence of natural disasters over almost a decade. He takes the main character of a myth as his creative focus as he discusses the significance of "God" for humanity. This was followed by The Beacon: When Night Light Glimmers series, which took a "special light" as its creative core.

More recently, Li has reflected on human nature in his creative works: the Ordinary People series in 2010 demonstrates his spiritual contemplation. The 2011 series Immortality of Fate, which is one of Li's "virtual" series, utilizes wood, rope and ceramic clay to convey his awareness of the changeability of cause and effect in life. In the same year, Li also produced the Ethereal Cloud series, the first time he showed cast stainless steel pieces.

Li's auction record is HKD.11,190,000 for a sculpture "Dragon-Riding Buddha" created in 2001, set at China Guardian, Hong Kong, on 7 October 2019.

Series The Beauty of Emptiness (1992–1997) Energy of Emptiness (1998–2000) Spiritual Journey Through the Great Ether (2001–) Soul Guardians (2008–2009) Immortality (2008–) The Beacon (2009–2010) Ordinary People (2010–) Ethereal Cloud (2011–)

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions 2019 Ethereal Cloud – Li Chen New Works, Asia Art Center, Beijing, China 2018 Through the Ages - Li Chen Solo Exhibition, Aurora Museum, Shanghai, China 2017 Being: In/Voluntary Drift - Li Chen Solo Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan 2014-15 Journey of Solitary Existence: Li Chen's "Ordinary People" Series Debut Exhibition, Asia Art Center, Beijing, China 2013–14 Discovery Channel's documentary "Chineseness", Taipei, Taiwan 2013 Li Chen 2013 Place Vendôme Premiere Sculpture Exhibition in Paris 2012 Li Chen: Eternity and Commoner, Frye Art Museum, Seattle 2011 Greatness of Spirit: Li Chen Premiere Sculpture Exhibition in Taiwan, Taipei 2010 The Beacon– When Night Light Glimmers, ShContemporary 10, Shanghai 2009 Li Chen: Mind‧Body‧Spirit, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2008 Soul Guardians- Li Chen Solo Show, Asia Art Center, Beijing In Search of Spiritual Space, National Museum of China, Beijing 2007 Energy of Emptiness, 52nd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice 2005 Li Chen Sculpture, Art Taipei 2005, Taipei 2003 Spiritual Journey Through the Great Ether, Michael Goedhuis Gallery, New York 2001 Delights of Ordinary People, River Art Gallery, Taichung 2000 The Transformation of Emptiness – Boundary within Boundary, Art Taipei 2000, Taipei 1999 Energy of Emptiness, Art Taipei, Taipei

Selected international group exhibitions 2019 Buddha．China-Buddhist Objects in the Early Stage from the Gansu Provincial Museum, Suzhou, China 2015 Rest on Water and Gargle with Stone: Chinese Contemporary Literati Art, Beijing, China 2013 Culture. Mind. Becoming, 55th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, Italy 2011 Splendid Ethics, Interalia Art Company, Seoul 2010 Spirit of the East II – Bridging, Asia Art Center, Beijing Korea International Art Fair, Seoul, Korea 2009 The 4th International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo, Beijing 09, Hong Kong 2008 Spirit of the East I- Accumulations, Asia Art Center, Beijing The Origin: The first Annual Moon River Sculpture Festival, Moon River Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing 2007 China Onward: Chinese Contemporary Art 1966–2006, The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen OPENASIA, 10th International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations, Venice The Power of the Universe – Exhibition of Frontier, Contemporary Chinese Art, Asia Art Center, Beijing Exploration and Revolution of images in reality by the 14 contemporary Chinese Artists, Doosan Art Center, Seoul TOP 10 Chinese Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Asia Art Center, Beijing China Onward: Chinese Contemporary Art, 1966–2006, Israel Museum, Jerusalem 2006 ARTSingapore, Singapore Art Taipei, Taipei 2005 Shanghai International Biennial Urban Sculpture Exhibition, Shanghai China International Gallery Exposition, Beijing Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai ARTSingapore, Singapore 2004 OPENASIA, 7th International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations, Venice Fiction Love– Ultra New Vision in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei China International Gallery Exposition, Beijing Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai 2003 Art Chicago, Chicago International Contemporary Art Fair, New York 2002 Art Palm Beach, Florida Art Chicago, Chicago International Fine Art Fair, Houston 2001 China without Borders, headquarters of Sotheby's, New York Asian Art Fair, Paris Salon de Mars Art Fair, Geneva, Switzerland Art Chicago, Chicago The International Asian Art Fair, New York

Publications Through the Ages-Li Chen, Aurora Museum and Asia Art Center, 2019, Being: In/Voluntary Drift - Li Chen Solo Exhibition, MOCA Taipei, 2018, La Légèreté Monumentale de Li Chen, Asia Art Center, 2014, Greatness of Spirit: Li Chen Premiere Sculpture Exhibition in Taiwan, Asia Art Center, 2012, Li Chen: The Beacon Series: When Night Light Glimmers, Asia Art Center, 2010, Li Chen: Mind．Body．Spirit, Singapore Art Museum & Asia Art Center, 2009, Li Chen: Soul Guardians-In an Age of Disasters and Calamities, Asia Art Center, 2009, Li Chen in Beijing – Solo Exhibition at National Art Museum of China – In Search of Spiritual Space, Asia Art Center, 2008, Li Chen in Venice, Asia Art Center, 2007, Li Chen 1992–2002 Sculpture, Asia Art Center, 2004,