Lien-Chin HOU

The natural dynamics given by HOU Lien-Chin 's sculptures are like entering a long stream that continues to move forward. When the quality of stone is twisted into clouds and water, the blending and transformation of sometimes abstract and sometimes concrete, the aura contains light, air and body sense.

b. 1981 Chiayi, Taiwan. Lives and works in Chiayi, Taiwan.

2007 M.F.A., Graduate Institute of Plastic Arts, Tainan National University of the Arts.

IMPORTANT EXPERIENCE

2023　The Echo of the Knocking: Taiwan Stone Sculpture Art Exchange Exhibition, Hualien, Taiwan.

2020　National Art Exhibition, Gold Medal & Exempt from Review Award, Taichung, Taiwan.

2019　Art Takes Manhattan Award, Manhattan, New York, U.S.A.

2019　Waregem International Stone Sculpture Symposium, Belgium.

2018　Obernkirchen International Stone Sculpture Symposium, Germany.

CREATIVE CONCEPT

2021 — Present: Glass and Stone Integration

My past works have always reflected my personality, inner world, and life experiences — an embodiment of the belief that “form follows spirit.” Unfortunately, viewers often fixate on form and fail to see the inner essence.

This new series shifts the focus to the invisible: emotion, energy, and life. Glass becomes the most fitting material to convey these ideas, leading me to explore the hybrid use of glass and stone.Both materials require direct shaping, and their interaction with the artist produces a result that most closely echoes the soul’s voice. Stone represents the physical, grounded world; glass symbolizes the spiritual, the intangible, and infinite thought.Through high-temperature shaping, glass captures the posture of nature and the flow of vaporous motion. Its transparency brings in sunlight’s refraction and color, breaking the mold of traditional three-dimensional thought and stepping into a “fourth dimension” — the spiritual realm, revealing the unseen essence of being.

The key insight from this process is “surrendering the self.” In combining glass and stone, I have reached the point where seeing a mountain is no longer seeing a mountain.Glass, with its transparency, holds emptiness — and in that emptiness, everything is possible. It absorbs sunlight, surroundings, emotions, and thought. Meanwhile, stone — formed by the earth — acts as the foundation, grounding and releasing energy. The combination of the two allows spiritual flow to manifest tangibly. This is my understanding of life.

Written by HOU, Lien-Chin