"Endless Radiance" Homage to Painter Li Yu-Yuan

Text and photos by Chen Chi-Hsiang. Exhibition dates: November 14 – December 2. Venue: 4th Floor, Chiayi City Cultural Center. Opening time: November 17, 10:30 AM. Curator: Chen Chi-Hsiang, international art critic based in France.

"Death is like an aesthetic concept; it belongs to life." — Artist James Lee Byars

Gazing at the horizon, where endless radiance meets the sky, our dear painter friend Li Yu-Yuan has become a spiritual light in the heavens. On this special anniversary day, we pay our highest respects to him through "Endless Radiance." The body is a traveler of time and space; art transforms into endless radiance, illuminating the human world and continuing to comfort living beings. We sincerely thank 'you.' Because of art, you continue to converse with us; whenever we think of you or see your paintings, we are together. The artistic life is an endless radiance, until that eternal eternity.

Li Yu-Yuan is one of the most profound painters of our generation. His paintings are alchemy of life, works resonating with the soul, witnessing personal existence, touching people's nerves, possessing a purity and truth rare for the times. His creations stem from inner calls and cries from the depths of the soul, opening skylights for dialogue about his existence. His expression is entirely derived from personal life experiences and deep subconsciousness, experiencing himself through creation. Li Yu-Yuan wrote: "Artists express themselves by expressing others, and love themselves by loving others." Artistic creation actually conveys the creator's self-emotions and thinking directions; it can be autobiographical, or allow contradictions and desires to run wild in conflict, using works to reflect on oneself in reality (Note 1). All of Yu-Yuan's creations remain faithful to his inner feelings. As spiritual writer Richard Rohr incisively states: "We do not see things as they are, we see ourselves as we are" (Note 2).

Li Yu-Yuan's paintings are rooted in "humanity," moving from realistic existence to "the existence of existence." His work portrays the theater of bodies and souls surrounding the impermanence and illusory changes of the human world. From group portraits and faces of all beings to glimpsing the true essence of the self, under the expressive power of sensibility and instinct, the "human scenes" in his paintings are startling, screaming, fraught with hardships, destitute, and depicting the joys and pleasures of the human realm. Under the trend of postmodern neo-expressionism, his work embodies sensibility, literary quality, narrative, and allegory. Some say his paintings contain only "people," no "scenery"; or only "people," no "emotion." In this great suffering of the human purgatory and physical and mental torment, people actually become the panorama, full emotion, and all worldly dramas. Deeply exploring humanity, Li Yu-Yuan dramatically expresses his profound observation of human nature and experiences the most stirring parts of the soul: death, pain, loneliness, despair, cruelty, the fragility and resilience of human life, and the sorrow and joy of life and death. From human suffering and one's own shadows, he glimpses the true appearance of his own life, experiences the impossible aspects of life, and through artistic transformation and sublimation, enters the mysteries of existence.

Yu-Yuan has always expressed his profound observations of human nature. His creative realm shifts with his heart. In 2006, stepping out of life's tragedy, bitterness gave way to sweetness, and true emotions flowed freely under the nourishment of love. The "Promise and Support" series manifested the mutual dependence of husband and wife through dual figures. Organic forms reshaped complex bodies, with fluid, deformed, twisted curves constructing vivid, illusory changes. This series extended until around 2010. Next came another warm and tender trilogy, "Like Water" (2009). Guided by the power of love, returning to the essence of "love" in existence, it displayed warm female bodies (flattened and color-plane oriented), soft lines, and contrasts between warm and cool color tones, evoking an unprecedented tenderness and warmth. Subsequently, emphasizing the shaping of single forms into human bodies, the "Confession," "Secret," and "Silence-Thought" series (2010) intended to display his will to exist and rich personal emotions and profound feelings. Continuing this depth, "Who = Truth" (2016) reflected on doubts about life's existence. The painter wrote: "Life is fun, yet also so difficult. We never know what lessons life wants to give us" (Note 3).

Another movement in Yu-Yuan's creation is natural imagery landscapes. They appear abstract, but upon careful scrutiny, they are concrete and figurative, continuing to entangle those profound marks of unbearable life. The tribal landscapes that cannot be erased are his homeland memories of indigenous friends lost in natural disasters. Starting with "Chapter One of the Seasons Outside the Door" (2004-05), the suddenly clear "Chapter Two of the Seasons Outside the Door" series (2013-15) clearly shows that outside the door is a timeless space-time. Seasons become memories of time. Indeed, "Let's open the door in our hearts, let 'Daylight' enter." Timeless seasons will become monuments to the homeland. Finally, the mature and pure "Sounds in the Mountains" series (2014-2016) saw the painter's body and mind liberated, opening the deep subconscious seasons outside the door, listening to sounds from the mountains, and glimpsing existential scenery under sudden flashes of inspiration. Mourning the suffering, unbearable nature, and beauty of Taiwan's land, within rigorous structure, subjective forms, and sensitive brushwork, poetic bursts of colorful brilliance and expressive lines fully displayed his rich emotions and consciousness, showing images of the painter's life sublimation.

The painter's contemplation of his own existence: "The night is so quiet, I am contemplating. The moon is so bright, I am contemplating. The world is so chaotic, I am contemplating. The mortal dust is so noisy, I am contemplating. Unaware, the east has turned white, temples covered in gray hair. I have been thinking, thinking, how to make this world more beautiful. I have truly been thinking, thinking. One day ~ suddenly discovered, my body had already withered" (Note 4).

Note 1: Li Yu-Yuan Oil Painting Collection Vol. 1: Impression - People - Group Portraits, published 2006. Note 2: Letting Go of Opposition, Meeting Joyful Inner World, p. 124, by Richard Rohr, translated by Wang Shu-Mei, published 2012 by Qishi Publishing. Note 3: From Li Yu-Yuan's self-description of his works. Note 4: From Li Yu-Yuan's self-description of his works. October 4, 2018, Paris