THE ARTIST
Taiwanese artist Shih Li-Jen is best known for his King
Kong Rhino made from metal. “Rhino, a specific endangered
species, calls for love and protection as well as emblems
both perseverance and obstinacy,” he has said, “Putting
together my care to environment and essence of civilization,
I have made works that concern with both nature and human
situation, my own life experience has been reflected by and
being transformed into my artworks.” Through the image of
rhinoceros, he established his own art form and found their
own spot within the grand space. They have all the features such
as environmental, social, public, and regional characteristics
that the contemporary art calls for. His rhinos (artworks)
were exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2017 and 2018.
LI-JEN SHIH
THE ART WORK
Symbol of justice and power, King Kong Rhino is made of
stainless mirror-steel to refelct both the sky and the way it
changes daily, but also the surrounding environment. In order
to create it the artist Li-Jen Shih decided to turn the rhino, a
majestic creature which has always been considered as a
symbol of luck and kindness in Chinese culture, into a piece of
contemporary art, a heroic and modern icon of the "real survivor".
"I've always considered the rhino as a creature which is close to
me. It's always been sorrowful to me to follow the news about
the endangered life of rhinos in the world and therefore I decided
to create a work aimed at witnessing its beauty and make people
aware about the concrete risk of extinction that rhinos run - says
Li-Jen Shih- On a spiritual level, my sculpture embodies many
thoughts are deeply rooted in ancient Chinese culture, while, in
term of style and expression, it represents contemporaneity"
The steel sculpture of the Rhino, with its armour, conveys a
strong image of resistance. A human fingerprint is impressed
in the horn to represent the predatory acion carried out by
human beings but, at the same time, it is also meant to recall
the importance of the respect due to all animal species on Earth.
RHINO
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