ILLUSTRATED:

Li Chen in Venice: 52nd Venice Biennale-Energy of Emptiness, Asia Art Center, Taipei, 2007, color illustrated, pp. 100-103, p.218

The sculpture is to be sold with a certiicate of authenticity issued by Asia Art Center, Taipei

Li Chen has acquired Buddhism, Taoism, and other classics to search for truth, which transmitted into his sculpture in an attempt to represent the Oriental spirit and essence. Li Chen uses "emptiness" as his important aesthetic concept in creation. Emptiness and non-being are the major concepts of Buddhism and Taoism in the Chinese culture. Emptiness embedded in Buddhism does not refer to nothing, but signifying a grand serene life and dead witty stage. Similarly, the Taoism saying goes, "Emptiness breaks; Silence resumes," suggesting a perfect moment of breaking and silencing, in search of a way in the moderation. Li Chen's sculpture conveys the energy of emptiness in a sculpture object, empty outside but filled up with energy inside. Owing to Li Chen's rebirth of energy in a spiritual form, the sculpture is highlighted in an exaggerated and lacquered black object to display a sweet, romantic, joyful, and satisfactory spiritual concept. Hence, despite Li's art is in gigantic form, but never heavy but flowing in the sky to transmit a "heavy and light" feeling, and a perfect fusion of spiritual energy and material energy. Li Chen's art, determined to break from the traditional thousand- year religious Buddhist formality of its structures, results in transforming Tang Dynasty's Buddhist round and complete igurative sculpture and the Song Dynasty's beautiful spirit and unique characteristics into simplistic sculpture's smiling face and lines. In addition, Li obtains the cultural elements from the 5000 years of Chinese history, such as spirits, Buddha, dragon, fables, and legends, blending contemporary artistic elements and materials into fusion of tradition and modernity. Hence, Li's work displays an unprecedented unique style and panorama to endow the Eastern sculpture with a new life.