Artist Exploration: Li Chen

Li Chen:

His bio discusses his tendency to focus on spiritual aspects of the world, drawing inspiration from Chinese tradition as well as Taoist and Buddhist beliefs. He works for a sense of intimacy, which I believe he successfully conveys. Each piece standing on it's solitary point brings you close to the element in which they control. It provides a feeling of understanding and invites you to create a personal bond with the grand elements of the natural universe. He discusses his piece's ability to be harmonious with a "heavy yet light" connotation. His artwork is truly harmonious. The pieces work together extremely well and compliment each other. Despite the mass we see amalgamated in their "balloon"-like bodies, they seem to have delicately light footing. Li Chen's work truly does "elicit the soft within". They feel very personal to me.

His pieces are very calming. They seem to invite a childlike wonder at the light and elements in which they portray. My favorite series of his is "In an Age of Disasters and Calamities: Soul Guardians". They weave an elemental component into the work, making for pieces that feel very natural and representative of the natural world. It's interesting looking at his work, because they seem like the perfect blend of ancient and traditional oriental figure sculpture as well as contemporary styles and details. They convey strong senses of motion and balance, as they stand upon one foot, almost floating within space, perfectly poised high above the world below. He pays tremendous attention to detail in his work. He manages to maintain a very cohesive body type in each piece, but alters it enough to make each entirely unique and representative of the element in which it is named for. The first is "Lord of the Wind", the second "Lord of the Rain" and the third "Lord of Fire."

030403_Lord of Wind_2008

030406_Lord of Rain_2009

030405_Lord of Fire_2008