ARTIST | LI Chen
VIP PREVIEW |
06.04 (Thu) 12:00–20:00
PUBLIC OPENING |
06.05 (Fri) 11:00–19:00
06.06 (Sat) 11:00–19:00
06.07 (Sun) 11:00–18:00
Asia Art Center will present a focused solo exhibition by Li Chen at Booth D02 during Art Taichung 2026. Li Chen, an internationally acclaimed contemporary sculptor, became the first artist from the Chinese-speaking world invited to present a solo exhibition at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007. In 2013, at age 50, he staged a major outdoor solo exhibition at Place Vendôme in Paris, becoming the youngest sculptor ever to exhibit there. In 2024, he received the American Friends of Museums in Israel's Outstanding Achievements in the Sculptural Arts Award. His work Pure Land (1998)has recently been acquired by the Musée Cernuschi in Paris. And in 2025, a major monograph on his work was released by the renowned European art publisher Éditions Cercle d'Art. This presentation marks the first time a selected group of works by the Taichung-born and -raised artist enters into dialogue with audiences in his hometown.
"My artistic journey is both absurd and extraordinary. From a critical rethinking of millennia of classical tradition emerges an alternative balance of contradictions. That 'creative ambiguity' embodies disturbance, understanding, and misinterpretation within human nature, a way in which the spirit and energy of Eastern sculpture come vividly alive in contemporary art."
— Li Chen (2026)
As noted by Western scholars in the Discovery documentary Chineseness (2013), Li Chen's work resists categorization, instead emerging naturally through the intersection of different ideas and forms, allowing audiences from diverse cultural backgrounds to find resonance and connection within it. Though his sculptures may appear rooted in classical traditions, they are never mere continuations of the past. Instead, they move between tradition and the contemporary, forming a dynamic balance between inherited spirit and present-day expression. As Li Chen describes it, this is a form of "creative ambiguity," in which his work preserves the spiritual resonance of classical thought while embracing humour, absurdity, and interpretive freedom. As the artist once remarked, "This is a pluralistic world. I do not belong to any particular school. Since you cannot define my work, perhaps we may simply call it 'pluralism' — or even 'non-ism.' "
In response to his recent publication, Li Chen further remarked, "Do we truly understand Western art, or have we simply seen too little of it? Absurdity lies hidden within the soil of our own classical culture, something so embedded in everyday life that we fail to notice it, and in doing so, lose confidence." This reflection speaks directly to the core of his long-standing artistic pursuit: neither replicating Eastern classicism nor conforming to Western trends, but seeking a contemporary artistic language uniquely his own at the intersection of culture and thought. For Art Taichung 2026, Asia Art Center has selected several key bodies of work from across Li Chen's career, including the weighty yet ethereal ink-black sculptures of the Spiritual Journey through the Great Ether and The Beacon series; the Ordinary People series, which reflects on human nature and the essence of life; Spiritual Journey through the Mundane World; and the Ethereal Cloud series, which evokes a distinctly Eastern abstract sensibility. Together, these works offer a concise introduction to Li Chen's artistic trajectory, bringing this artist, who has journeyed from Taichung to the international stage, into a profound dialogue with his hometown.
