Li Chen – Soul Guardians:
In an Age of Disasters and Calamities
October 18 – December 21, 2008
Asia Art Center Beijing
No. 2, Jiuxianqiao Rd., Dashanzi 798 Art District, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100015, China
T. + 86 – 10 – 5978 9709, 5978 9710
F. + 86 – 10 – 5978 9708
Beijing@asiaartcenter.org
http://www.asiaartcenter.org
The Asia Art Center in Beijing’s 798 Art District is proud to present a spectacular new series of sculptural works by Li Chen. Titled Soul Guardians: In an Age of Disasters and Calamities, the exhibition consists of three large-scale installations. If Li Chen has produced singular bronzes of exceptional harmony in the past, the present sculptural installations are designed for a world marked by natural and man-made disasters, warfare, decay, and global ecological calamity.
Our world is unsafe and full of mishap, the pace of uncertainty ever greater, the gods are no longer benign. The minions of Yanluo, the God of Death and Ruler of the Underworld, take center stage in Li Chen’s first installation. Two large figures, three meters tall and coated in gold leaf, Mind-Taking Guard and Soul-Taking Guard, flank the Judge of the Underworld and bear down on the viewer. One has a concave mirror in his hand reaching out towards us, the other mirror is convex.
Two other Guards, suspended from the ceiling, also bear down on the viewer. The Lord of Wind, black and voluminous, and the Lord of Fire, red with flames protruding from bodily orifices and his flesh, represent two of the four natural phenomena (Wind, Fire, Thunder and Rain).
The second installation in Soul Guardians refers to wuxíng or the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water). Each element represents the traditional five cardinal points in Chinese culture and is associated with a particular color as well as a heavenly creature (Blue Dragon in the East, Red Phoenix in the South, Yellow Qilin in the Middle, White Tiger in the West and Black Tortoise in the North).
In the third and final room of the exhibition Li Chen shows for the first time the highly elaborate, large-scale wooden structures he creates in the process of producing his sculptures. These remarkable skeleton-like figures of the Mind-Taking Guard and the Soul-Taking Guard exude a power of their own in their severe reduction. They still bear traces of the clay which was used in the casting process, creating intimations of death and decay. In commenting of the startling new direction of his work Li Chen noted: “Everything is uncertain and has an illusionary sense of value in this age of disaster.”
The exhibition Soul Guardians: In an Age of Disasters and Accidents was organized by the Asia Art Center.
The artist
Li Chen (b. 1963) is regarded as one of the leading sculptors working in Asia today, his powerful, large-scale bronzes fusing Zen thought with contemporary art practice. He lives and works in both Shanghai and Taiwan. In 2007 a large-scale exhibition of Li Chen’s work was presented at the 52nd Venice Biennale as a Collateral Event, and in 2008 his work was recognized in a major solo exhibition titled In Search of Spiritual Space at NAMOC (The National Art Museum of China) in Beijing.
Catalogue
The exhibition Li Chen – Soul Guardians: In an Age of Disasters and Calamities will be accompanied by a handsome, fully illustrated catalogue published by the Asia Art Center which will appear in December 2008. The catalogue will contain in-depth essays as well as photographic documentation of the installations and may be pre-ordered by contacting the Asia Art Center Beijing at the above address.
