朱銘在雲門《白彩人間系列雕塑展》
JU Ming
White Living World Series
One of the highly acclaimed sculpture series by the internationally renowned Taiwanese sculptor JU Ming, the White Living World Series has evolved for over thirty years, from worldly depictions with colorful paints to deep philosophical inquiry with monochrome. Since the opening of Cloud Gate Theater in 2015, the White Living World Series has been exhibited at open spaces of the theater complex, making the site into a living art museum where visitors enjoy and linger around.
JU Ming
| JU Ming, original named as JU Chuan-tai, was born in 1938, in the small town Tongxiao (Miaoli County, Taiwan). At the age of 15, JU Ming became an apprentice to the famous local artisan LEE Chin-chuan, and he was trained as a traditional Chinese wood-carver at the first time. After JU completed the apprenticeship, he soon created a successful crafts business. However, JU Ming was eager to develop further as a sculptor, a true artist. As a result, at the age 30, JU Ming strived to be a pupil of the renowned sculptor YANG Yuyu, and started his pursuit of art. In the year 1976, JU Ming held his first solo exhibition in the National Museum of History, Taipei. The exhibition was a great success. People flooded into the museum to see JU’s work, which brought him huge fame, since JU’s wood carving works depicted Taiwanese rural scenery, for example, the water buffalo, and reminded many Taiwanese of the strength and beauty of their home-island. JU Ming was soon considered as a significant symbol of Taiwanese Nativist Movement, and also named as one of the Ten Outstanding Persons of 1976 by the government. However, despite the success on carvings of native images, JU Ming kept pushed himself forward to find more innovative ways of expression in sculpture. In this period, JU gradually developed his Taichi Series, which later became one of his most renowned series. By the early 1980s, JU Ming went to New York, the center of contemporary art in the 1980s, where he later developed the Living World Series and gain international acclaim. JU Ming’s artistic creativity came to full fruition between the 1980s and 1990s. During this time, both of his major serial works, Taichi Series and Living World Series, reached the stature of maturity. JU developed a new depth in the artistic languages of Taichi Series, which he executed with gentleness, easiness and humility, reflecting the unity of man and nature. The Living World Series, on the other hand, themed with people from all walks of life, reflected JU Ming’s keen observation of modern society. Meanwhile, JU Ming’s works have gone through some changes, especially on materials. He developed his skill and applied it not only on wood, but also clay, sponge, bronze, stainless steel, all sorts of various materials. From 1987 onwards, JU Ming start to construct a museum in Jinshan (New Taipei City, Taiwan), and he achieved this goal step by step. He built the museum from scratch, successfully turned a wasteland into a large-scale sculpture park. It is a remarkable work that had never been done in Taiwan before. In 1999, after 12 year of hard work, Juming Museum was finally ready to open. It became the artist’s largest work, and was his way to contribute toward the society. In 2000, JU Ming presented his work, Taichi Arch, to the public, as the finale of Taichi Series. In 2005, he presented Living World Series: Armed Forces, which combining sculpture, performance and installation art. On his use of color, since 2007, the Living World Series has adopted a black and white tone, entering a more simple and pure realm of art. In 2010, the Living World Series – Imprisonment and Cube set forth JU Ming’s new creativity perspective. This work moved beyond forms and turned towards a retrospective thought referring to human nature, displaying the depth of JU Ming’s philosophical reflection on aesthetics. |
