For Li Chen, the presentation of existence should not be limited to spirituality. In the series of “Immortality” and “Ordinary People” he had used rough clay, wood frames, and ropes to display the “reality side” of human existence. Comparing to the series that emphasize the “spirituality side”, in “Ordinary People” we are witnessing a solemn “down-to-earth-ness”. Li Chen might named one of his series “Immortality”, but he was actually discussing about caducity and death. Li Chen once said: “The beginning of your happiness is to identify your sorrow.” If these two series bring us directly to what we fear primordially as human beings, these could be a form of wisdom and mercy from the artist. 

In this book Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker (Director of the Frye Art Museum in Seattle), Yin Shuangxi (Professor and PhD supervisor at China Central Academy of Fine Arts) and Dimitri Bruyas (Senior Editor of China Post) are invited to delicate in-depth critical essays on Li Chen’s works.