Li Yuan-Chia (1929–1994) [referred to throughout this catalogue as LYC] was one of the most important Chinese artists of the 20th century. He was born into a peasant family in rural Guangxi Province and moved to Taiwan after the Communist victory. He studied art and with a number of fellow artists formed the Ton Fan Group in 1956; they produced the first abstract works in modern China and came to international attention.
In the 1960s Li moved to Italy and then Britain, exhibiting at the Lisson Gallery alongside dom sylvester houédard and David Medulla. While in London he taught himself photography and this medium became integral to his artistic practice.
The LYC Foundation says of Li's work that: Li had a unique vision, a kind of spiritual vision of space, which represented a fusion of the open field of 20th century Western abstract art with the Chinese tradition of summing up all phenomena in a system of simple signs. Words were among these signs; Li incorporated words in his visual art, and also wrote poems. He evolved what he called the ‘cosmic point’, a visual element, sometimes as small as a tiny dot, which defines or stimulates the void. After working in painting, sculpture and installation modes, Li developed photography in a highly personal way.
In 1972 he converted a rundown farmhouse at Banks on Hadrian’s Wall into his own gallery, the LYC Museum, a place of tranquility where art could flourish. Over three hundred artists exhibited there, while Li himself constantly explored the cosmos and the commonplace in painting, sculpture, installation, photography and poetry.
