LI CHEN Spiritual Journey through the Great Ether
Hall 12/13, 3F, Guangdong Museum of Art (BAIETAN)
2026-03-13——
2026-05-17
Date: March 13, 2026 - May 17, 2026
Venue: Hall 12/13, 3F, Guangdong Museum of Art (BAIETAN)
(Address: No. 19, Bai'etan S. Rd., Liwan District, Guangzhou）
Organizer: Guangdong Museum of Art
Supporter: Asia Art Center
Exhibition Director: Wang Shaoqiang
Curator: Wu Hongliang
Creative Director: Tang Sheng
Executive Curator: Xu Haoyang
Introduction
Li Chen is widely regarded as one of the most influential Chinese sculptors today. Through his distinctive ink-black sculptural language, he translates spiritual concepts such as qi (vital energy), xu (emptiness/void), and jing (stillness/quietude) from Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist thought—into contemporary sculptural expression. In doing so, he has established a highly recognizable artistic path that bridges Eastern philosophy and modern sculptural vocabulary. In his works, massive volumes coexist with a sense of lightness, and sculpture is no longer merely a material form but becomes a spatial field that carries spiritual energy.
This exhibition presents a systematic overview of Li Chen’s artistic development since the late 1990s. Bringing together more than sixty sculptures and paintings, it includes works from several major series, including Energy in Emptiness, Spiritual Journey through the Great Ether, The Beacon, Ordinary People, Ethereal Cloud, and Celestial Manuscripts. Together, these works trace the artist’s evolving exploration—from his early contemplation of qi to his more recent extensions into symbolic structures and spiritual space—revealing more than two decades of sustained inquiry into Eastern spirituality.
Within Li Chen’s sculptural practice, Spiritual Journey through the Great Ether is not merely the title of a series but also a continuously unfolding spiritual methodology. Since the series began in 2001, the artist has employed ink-black volumes together with gold and silver materials to create a subtle balance between material density and spiritual lightness, gradually shifting his creative focus from the modeling of form toward the construction of spiritual space. Building on this foundation, the Ethereal Cloud series uses rigid materials to evoke the movement of air, transforming time and memory into visible structures. In recent years, the Celestial Manuscripts series has further detached writing from semantic meaning, extending the flow of qi to the level of symbols and structures of viewing.
Curated by Wu Hongliang, this exhibition revisits Li Chen’s most iconic creative trajectory nearly a decade after the curator organized a major exhibition of the artist at the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei in 2017. Taking Spiritual Journey through the Great Ether as its central thread, the exhibition reexamines the artist’s sculptural system and presents the distinctive energetic field he has constructed between Eastern spiritual traditions and contemporary sculptural language.
Selected Works
The Gift
Li Chen
Bronze
66 × 56 × 191.5cm
2021
Courtesy of Asia Art Center and the Artist
Pompousness
Li Chen
Bronze
42 × 46.5 × 80 cm
2021
Courtesy of Asia Art Center and the Artist
Radiance．Chiliadal Blossom (I)
Li Chen
Bronze
177 × 139.5 × 254 cm
2018
Courtesy of Asia Art Center and the Artist
Ephemeral Beauty
Li Chen
Bronze
2013
Courtesy of Asia Art Center and the Artist
The Pursuer
Li Chen
Bronze
2010
Courtesy of Asia Art Center and the Artist
Monumental Levity of Li Chen: 2013 Place Vendôme Premiere Solo Exhibition in Paris, Place Vendôme, Paris, France.
Floating Heavenly Palace
Li Chen
Bronze
2007
Courtesy of Asia Art Center and the Artist
Li Chen: Mind Body Spirit, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2009
Pure Land
Li Chen
Bronze
1998
Courtesy of Asia Art Center and the Artist
OPENASIA, 7th International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations, Venice, Italy, 2004
About Artist
Li ChenLi Chen was born in 1963 in Taiwan, China, and currently works in Taichung, China. Li Chen accomplished a style which has fully liberated itself from the confines of tradition by incorporating feelings of self-mindfulness and interpretations of Chinese classics from the Buddhist and Daoist traditions, blended with contemporary thought, evincing a remarkably refreshing and natural effect of appearing both heavy and light. The underlying aesthetic principles in Li’s sculpture are based not only on a ”dual composition” of Eastern traditions and Western sculptural language but also on an ongoing dialogue with the spiritual and material cultures of Africa and Oceania. Furthermore, Li Chen’s art work aspires to a spiritual arts therapy, uncovering a wealth of joy amidst the life's simple pleasures, innovating a spiritual space through humorous metaphors of worldly affairs
Opening hours: every Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17: 00 (admission is closed at 16: 30 and clearance is started at 16:45).
Closed on Mondays (except legal holidays and special circumstances).
Baietan Area: No. 19, Baietan South Road, Liwan District,Guangzhou P.C. 510170 | Front Desk Phone：020-88902999，020-88902888
Ersha Island: No. 38 Yanyu Road, Ersha Island, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou P.C. 510105 | Front Desk Phone：020-87351468
Closed on Mondays (except legal holidays and special circumstances).
Baietan Area: No. 19, Baietan South Road, Liwan District,Guangzhou P.C. 510170 | Front Desk Phone：020-88902999，020-88902888
Ersha Island: No. 38 Yanyu Road, Ersha Island, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou P.C. 510105 | Front Desk Phone：020-87351468