Li Chen’s sculptures are distinguished by their refined, warm surface texture. Working primarily in bronze, he employs traditional Chinese techniques such as lacquer in a deep ink-black finish, along with gilding and silvering. His works convey a sense of lightness and spiritual ease, creating a striking paradox of being “both heavy and light.”Completed in 2000, Cloud Glider draws on a line from
Zhuangzi’s Free and Easy Wandering: “Riding the qi of clouds, mounting a flying dragon, and roaming beyond the four seas.” The piece expresses the artist’s spiritual aspirations—the figure soars through clouds, filled with joy, while embodying the Daoist philosophy of qi and energy. It offers a masterful interpretation of the uniquely Eastern concepts of essence, vitality, and spirit. Li Chen’s reinterpretation of Buddhist figures reveals an aesthetic of purity and effortless non-action. Though serene, austere, and unadorned, his works are nonetheless imbued with an overwhelming, irrepressible force of energy that seems impossible to resist.