李義弘   Li, Yi-Hong   1941~

Yi-Hong Li, courtesy name Zai-Chuan, was born in Xigang, Tainan, in 1941. Full of outstanding and innovative spirit, this ink painter has won the Zhongshan Literary and Artistic Creation Award and the Wu San-Lien Literary and Artistic Creation Award. Li began to capture the landscape of southern Taiwan during his youth. He has also set foot in India, Nepal and China both traveling and drawing. In recent years, he has dedicated his efforts to make his landscape paintings an eclectic mix of mountainous scenery, clouds, mist, as well as light and shadow. He has delivered artwork of great quality, and he has also succeeded in using nature as a background to manifest the moment of epiphany . Photography, painting, and calligraphy are his habitual methods for capturing the beauty of nature. He has even integrated photographs into his paintings, and has employed exquisite images to make his works unique and creative. Yi-Hong Li once said: “There is no boundary of heaven and earth. Painters can freely explore nature.” He is a pioneer in ink painting, applying avant-garde thinking and modern interpretation, challenging all possibilities of art creation, and transforming abstract notions into a concrete oeuvre. Through his brush and ink, Li conveys to the viewers his affection for the land, and digs deep into tradition to investigate the relationship between ink painting and himself. In the meantime, he has opened up new horizons and created ink painting permeated with the “colors of the island.”