EXHIBITED:

Li Chen in 52nd Venice Biennale - Energy of Emptiness, Venice, 2007

Li Chen - In Search of Spiritual Space, National Museum of China, Beijing, 2008

Li Chen: Mind, Body, Spirit, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2009

ILLUSTRATED:

Li Chen in 52nd Venice Biennale - Energy of Emptiness, Venice, Asia Art Center, Taipei, 2007, pp. 186-189

Li Chen: In Search of Spiritual Space, 2008 Solo Exhibition at National Art Museum of China, Asia Art Center, Taipei, 2008, cover page & pp. 130-139

Li Chen: Mind, Body, Spirit, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2009, pp. 90-91

This sculpture is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity issued by Asia Center Co. Ltd., Taipei.

Li Chen's sculptures investigate the energy of such emptiness, and his sculptural forms are not empty, but instead are full of a vital energy. He achieves this through an energetic and spiritual style that uses exaggerated shapes and dark black lacquer to create a spiritual matter that people can absorb. But the sculptures also convey emotions that are sweet, romantic, happy and satisfied. For this reason, though some of his works may be massive, they don't appear oppressive and heavy. Instead they seem to be floating in the air, exhibiting an alluring ambiguity between lightness and heaviness.

"Golden Rain", as part of the "Spiritual Journey through The Great Ether" series, was completed in 2005. In this piece, Li Chen expresses his feelings through his portrayal of the scenery. The rain has just stopped and the setting sun has painted the horizon golden with its shining rays, at the same time illuminating the raindrops with a golden hue. A child frolics joyfully in the rain, blending in with nature to become one entity. How happy he truly is! Li Chen freezes the moment and encapsulates it into his sculpture. The piece, when scrutinized from its front, shows three fallen raindrops on the face and neck of the child, as if those are his eyes and nose. Here Li Chen magnifies his feelings in this direct visual manner, and conveys a sense of engaging humour and spiritualizes tranquility with his unique style, offering the viewer a fresh new visual perception. By using gold as a metaphor for rain, Li Chen describes his joyous delight in his deep feelings for this source of life. The ambience created by the "setting sun and golden showers", and the contrasting yet harmonious combination of the gentle, moist gold and black energy gives rise to a boundless world for imagination, thereby creating an emptiness with dazzling. In addition, it infuses the sculpture with a type of warm energy that manifests the value of substance and which radiates expansive and limitless vital energy.