Li Chun-Hsien, Poke II, 2000, 2008-2015, 225x222cm, Image Output, Oil and Collage on Canvas, Photographed at Taiwan Biennale - Wild Roots, 2019-01
South Island Knight Li Chun-Hsien, photographed during an interview at Renwu Studio on 2012-03-29, Gazing into the Sky - Sincere Blessings

Text and images by Chen Chi-Hsiang. Li Chun-Hsien, the South Island Knight, is one of the most courageous and spirited tough guys in the Taiwanese art scene, an artist who personally practices and implements his work locally. He embodies the ultimate "Taiwanese" spirit without complaint. His works are bold, rich, moving, and profound, voicing the hearts of Taiwanese people with emotion, loyalty, blood, and tears. Full of Taiwanese sentiment, consciousness, spirit, and courage, he stirs the nerves and soul of the land and its people. Under strong cultural faith, he witnesses the local spirit, calling out the name of the motherland—Taiwan. The only pure, authentic "Taiwanese" flavor: sour, alkaline, bitter, astringent, and spicy. It moves one's grandmother to tears, cools the heart, and expresses the local shock and nerves through powerful force.

The great twentieth-century writer Lawrence wrote: "Every continent has its own great local spirit, every nation has its local characteristics; that is home, that is hometown. On this earth, different places have different vitality, different shocks, different chemical smells, different stars, different characteristics. You can call it whatever you like, but the local spirit is a great reality." Gazing at the Horizon—in this text, I pay my highest tribute to the South Island Knight, grateful for your blameless cultivation and dedication to this land. Your pioneering spirit will become the energy of this land, inspiring the new generation.

The article "Li Chun-Hsien – The South Island Knight of the Taiwanese Art Scene" was published in the Tainan Yandian Literary Bi-monthly, in Chen Chi-Hsiang's column on Taiwanese artists, in April 2012. It was also published on my blog.