Lishan Chang
Artist Statement

The history of Homo sapiens is almost half a million years old.

The history of its fine arts, however, is only a few short millennia.

Yet if we truly wish to understand men--not just their hopes, aspirations, and imagination, but what it means to be "men the wise"--it is to their arts that we turn to: always and above all else.

Which of course creates a special problem for the would-be student of "men." As Laozi famously responded when asked to explain the meaning of Dao: as soon as an explanation is offered--as soon as it is put into words--it would no longer be the Dao.

I believe it is the same with works of art.

For the artists, the moment they try to explain their works, their works cease to be genuine works of art, but are turned into something else entirely. Something that seek to convey their meanings via language and language alone.

This is especially true when the artists, either out of laziness, conformity, or a mere wish to impress, resort to readymade aesthetic theories to explain their works.

Of course I am aware that, by invoking Laozi, I may very well be falling into the same trap myself. Yet it is a risk I willingly undertake. For, steeped in the Daoist tradition, I tend to view each one of my projects as a Zen Buddhist "koan." Each entails its own set of questions that I, as its creator, had to ask, and each generates its own unique, and very often paradoxical, answers that may surprise its viewers as much as myself.

In other words, either you get the point of the artwork on display or you don't.

If the latter, and if you don't mind spending a moment or two in its presence, thinking about it--thinking along with it--maybe you'll get the point soon.

The important thing, though, is that you'll have actually engaged your intellect with a work of art. And that alone, to me, is worth far more than any number of fine-sounding words I can easily put at your disposal, and which you can just as easily return to me: unopened like a piece of mail, and none the wiser of its content.

Artist Web Site
http://www.changlishan.com/
Works & History
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2008 Prélude de claire de lune, The Earlville Opera House: A Multi Arts Center, Earlville, NY
2008 LC Bakery Washington Pavilion, Washington Pavilion of Arts & Science, Sioux Falls, SD
2008 The Folding Library, Brooklyn Public Library Lobby Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2007 One to Infinity - Art Center of William Patterson University, NJ
2007 New Land, Gallery Korea, NY
2005 Frame To the Other End, Crystal Art Gallery, Flushing, NY
2005 Interlunar Interlude, Amerasia Gallery, Flushing, NY
2004 Storage Memory of New York, Amerasia Gallery, Flushing, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011 Live AMMO, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan
2010 Going Green, tour exhibition within the US
2010 Jack In The Space, Dean Project, Long Island City, NY
2009 Ten Year Celebration: Solo Exhibition Artists Retrospective (1999-2009), Washington Pavilion of Arts & Science, Sioux Falls, SD
2009 Dream in a Contemporary Secret Garden, TECO New York, NY
2009 How Chinese, Gallery 456 Chinese American Arts Council, New York, NY
2009 Making It/ Selections from the 2008 NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists, Deutsche Bank, New York, NY
2008-2009 Taipei Award 2008 Exhibition, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2008 Special exhibition at the Asian Contemporary Art Fair, New York, NY
2008 Ceremonies of Summer, LatinCollector Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Summer Nude, Lana Santorelli Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Human Resources, @ Seaport, New York, NY
2007 Shift/Remix, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ
2007 ISCP Open Studio, New York, NY
2007 Line (Drawing), Queens Library Gallery, Queens, NY
2007 Jamaica Flux, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, NY
2007 Dare to Art, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
2007 Outdoor Standing Installation, Franconia Sculpture Park, MN, USA
2007 Float 2007, Socrates Sculpture Park, NY
2007-2008 Taiwan: From within the Mist, tour exhibition in The US, Canada, Taiwan
2007 LMCC Open Studio, New York, NY
2007 Diverse Version, Walsh Library Gallery, NJ
2006 Beyond Measure, TECO New York, NY
2006 Circle of influence, New Art Gallery, CT
2005 Passport to Taiwan 05', Union Square North Park, NY
2004 Storage Memory, Long Island, NY
2004 Passport to Taiwan 04', Union square North Park, NY
2004 Nexus - Taiwan in Queens, Queens Museum of Art, NY