Li has been found of painting since he was small. He recalled that when he was a small boy, he was very diffident--he was physically frail, he talked with a stammer, and his grades in school were poor. Only in art classes did he feel some confidence and self-assurance. Because of the talent he showed in painting, his art teacher entered his work in an art contest when he was in eighth grade. Much to his delight, he won first place. "I felt so proud of myself because I could finally go on stage and receive an award like other academically brilliant students. I was so greatly encouraged by the honor that from that time on my interest in painting never dwindled." But also because he put all his heart into painting, he neglected his schoolwork and lagged far behind his fellow students. It took him four years to complete his junior high school education (it normally takes three), and he did not even make it through high school.

With his heart set on pursuing further study in art after he left high school, he applied for and passed the entrance examination to the National Taiwan College of Arts in Taipei. He chose to specialize in Chinese painting because he had always been fond of the traditional creative medium of brush and ink. During his three years at the college, however, he did not meet any teachers from whom he received special inspiration. He said that although some of the teachers who taught at the school were famous painters, their teaching methods were stiff and monotonous, with a great deal of emphasis placed on copying and imitating the masterpieces of great Chinese painters. Such an uninspiring learning environment would undoubtedly dwarf any person's creative and imaginative powers. Therefore, three years later when he graduated from the school, despite the fact that he was the number one student in the category of ink-wash painting, he was still unsure about his creative style and at a loss about what direction he should take regarding his artistic creation.

After completing his compulsory two-year service in the military, he taught art at a middle school in Keelung, northern Taiwan. "I was greatly depressed at that time, because I really wanted to paint, but I couldn't produce any work that I was satisfied with. It was extremely painful." One day, in the depths of his despair, he saw a Chinese painting at a friend's place which had been copied from a work by a prominent painter, Jiang Zhao-shen (江兆申). Li was mesmerized by the painting, which demonstrated fresh creativity and a great mastery of mood and ambience. He immediately asked his friend, who knew Jiang, to introduce him to the great painter. "Later, I became Jiang's pupil," Li reminisced. "He was the key person who led me into the profound world of traditional Chinese painting. Jiang not only excelled at painting--he was also good at and had a profound understanding of Chinese calligraphy, poetry, and seal engraving. To me, he was like a treasure trove from which I could draw endless inspiration." Under Jiang's guidance, Li worked assiduously to refine his skills. Soon he was making great progress and able to produce work of real quality.

In 1979, about 10 years after he became Jiang's pupil, he held his first solo exhibition in Taipei. It was a great success and caused quite a sensation in art circles. The next year, he received an important award conferred by the Sun Yat-sen Cultural Foundation for his achievement in painting. Three years later, he won the Wu San-lien Literature & Arts Award. After constantly refining and improving himself, he had become an established painter in his own right.

In addition to the guidance of Jiang, there was one other thing that had a direct influence on his artistic creation--his taking up photography. "Because I was in poor health and suffered from insomnia, my teacher, Jiang, advised me to get outdoors and go hiking, take some pictures, and relax my mind." Li fell in love with the art of photography as soon as he began to try his hand at it, and later he even won many prizes for his photographic work. Talking about the influence photography has on his painting, he says that it has greatly enhanced his ability to compose a painting. "When faced with a view or a subject matter, a photographer has to be sensitive enough to find out the best way to present it, and to decide, sometimes in a very short time, what to include in or leave out of his photograph to get a well-structured work. Such training stands me in good stead when I'm composing a painting." Li often compares and contrasts the photographs he took, and by doing so he has been able to find many unique compositions for his paintings. His works are often praised for their distinctive compositions, which can evidently be ascribed to his training in photography.

A painter, especially one who constantly seeks to better himself, inevitably runs into creative blocks. Li is no exception. How does he cope with them? "When I'm faced with a creative block, I leave it alone for a while. Usually when the right time comes, I'll find a way out." He said that one time he had problems finishing a painting to his satisfaction, so he put it aside. Three years later when he came back to look at it, he found that the problem that used to bother him so much was nothing at all. He finished the painting with perfect ease. The artist observes that the older he gets, the more he has come to identify with his teacher's philosophy: take it easy, don't try to force things; maintaining a healthy mindset is the most important thing. "If you come across a problem that you can't solve, it's not something you can help. There's no use taking unnecessary pains over it. So I would suggest to people who have come to a dead end: just turn around and take another route."

It is the dream of every painter to make one's mark in history, to create great works of art that will be admired and appreciated generation after generation. However, this is not an easy task to accomplish. Li states that he never paints with a preconceived notion of what he hopes his paintings can achieve--receive critics' praise, fetch a good price, or win a competition--because whenever he begins to embrace expectations for his paintings, his brush becomes stuck and he cannot paint freely. "Only when you paint with a free mind, unburdened by any intention of attaining fame or wealth through your work, is it possible for you to create really fine pieces of art."

Today, when Li is not teaching (he is a teacher at the Taipei National University of the Arts), he divides his energies among painting, photography, calligraphy, and music (he is a stereo buff). He also likes to go out and observe nature. One can sense that he fully enjoys his life. Deriving inspiration from his spiritually rich life, he has produced a large oeuvre that has won the admiration of critics and art lovers. Obviously the artist, still in the prime of his creative life, will continue to create more works to enrich the world of Chinese painting. The pursuit of art, like the pursuit of the ultimate, knows no bounds. We look forward to even greater delights from him.

In the sidebars on the following pages, we continue to present Li's ink-wash paintings. We hope our readers will enjoy the painter's creative flair expressed through the Chinese artistic medium of brush and ink.