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| Ju Ming, Tai Chi, Single Whip (front view), 1998, bronze St. Louis, MO |
Chances are you have probably never heard of the artist Ju Ming; however, if you have visited Citygarden, the urban art park in downtown St. Louis, then you have definitely seen the monumental bronze Tai Chi, Single Whip (1998), a lithe, geometric figure dynamically set in a basic tai chi pose. The sculpture is one of many Ju Ming produced, in both wood and bronze, as part of his famous Taichi Series. Considered "one of the best selling sculptors on the art market" today by artnet.com, his work is represented by several European galleries (1). Yet, in spite of his international reputation, Ju Ming is not a household name in the United States.
Born in 1938 in Miaoli, Taiwan, Ju Ming began his sculptural career as a woodcarver under the apprenticeship of Lee Chin-chuan, a Buddhist statuary craftsman. From 1953 to 1957, he assisted the master carver with the restoration of the Mazu temple, and during the three years and four months he worked for Lee Chin-chuan perfecting his sculpting skills, he received only a stipend for his labor. After completing his service, Ju Ming established his own studio and he and his apprentices began a thriving business creating traditional folk art.
While carving furniture and religious statues for his customers, Ju Ming began experimenting with contemporary subject matter in his personal work. After winning prizes in the 1966 and 1967 Taiwan Art Exhibitions with his quotidian scenes, he sought out a "new master" with the hopes of elevating his craft into an art form (2). At the age of thirty, Ju Ming was once again an apprentice, this time, under the tutelage of Yuyu Yang, Taiwan's pre-eminent modern sculptor (3).
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| Ju Ming, Tai Chi, Single Whip (back view), 1998, bronze St. Louis, MO |
For eight years, he studied under Yuyu Yang. Finally in 1976, with his mentor's assistance, Ju Ming participated in his first major exhibition at the National Museum of History in Taipei, Taiwan. The exhibit, which featured works from his Nativist Series, was auspiciously received by the Taiwanese and Chinese press, and resulted in a host of awards and honors. The success of the show not only catapulted Ju Ming into the international art world but it also led to his first international exhibition at the Tokyo Central Art Museum in Tokyo, Japan in 1977.
Not wanting to be limited by being labeled a nativist sculptor, Ju Ming elected to debut a group of 28 rough hewn, wooden figures from his emerging Taichi Series. In a departure from his previous nativist imagery, Ju Ming rejected realism in favor of conceptualism. With the new works, he sought to pare down his sculptures by capturing the "character" of tai chi instead of sculpting its physical reality (6). As a practioner of this ancient Chinese martial art, Ju Ming was able to imbue his sculptures with a kinetic force held in check by an inner tranquility.
Over the next two decades, he continued to explore this visual language as he experimented with new media like carving foam rubber and styrofoam and casting the molds in bronze. Gradually, his figures became more and more conceptual and visually dynamic as evident by the simplicity and fluidity of Single Whip.
Although Ju Ming created another successful body of work known as the Living World Series, the Taichi Series remains his most famous one to date. At the recent 20th century Chinese Art sale at Sotheby's Hong Kong, five small (less than 30 inches) and two large-scale Tai Chi figures sold for over 3 million dollars (7). By and large, the majority of his works are located in European and Asian collections (8).
The number that exist in American collections is unknown. Excluding Citygarden, the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS is home to the only other known public sculpture by the artist that I found. The piece known as Tai Chi Figure (1985) is located in front of the law school building in memory of Judge Willard Benton. Seeing that his works have been compared to the great, abstract figures produced by the modern English sculptor Henry Moore, little has been written in English about the artist outside of a few exhibition catalogues (9). Hopefully as more people become aware of Ju Ming's biography, his sculptures in the U.S. will become widespread.
RERFERENCES:
Note:
Names are written according to the way they are listed on the
Ju Ming Museum website http://www.juming.org.tw/opencms/juming_en/main_en.jsp
2. Chao, John, and Ju Ming, Ju Ming: Taichi Sculptures; a South Bank Exhibition, [ju Ming, South Bank Centre, London, 13 August - 13 September, 1991, Hong Kong: Hanart T Z Gallery, 1991. (not paginated)
4. Chao, John, and Ju Ming, Ju Ming: Taichi Sculptures; a South Bank Exhibition, [ju Ming, South Bank Centre, London, 13 August - 13 September, 1991, Hong Kong: Hanart T Z Gallery, 1991. (not paginated)
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
If you like this post, then please share it. Ju Ming is an amazing sculptor and I would like to see more of his public works in the U.S.
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