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Juror's Statement

HSIEH Tong-Liang

類 雕 塑
Da Dun Fine Arts Exhibition is an art competition that calls for international submissions. This year marks the 28 th edition of the exhibition, and the
number of submissions has steadily increased over the years. This year's Sculpture category received as many as 111 entries, among which eight were
overseas submissions. After the preliminary review, 16 entries were short-listed, which were all domestic works, demonstrating Taiwan's outstanding
levels of creativity.
As usual, the jury consisted of five jurors, and I served as the chair of the jury. The authors remained anonymous throughout the review process,
and we did not know if an entry was domestic or overseas; we selected works based on our own opinions. Electronic files and written information
were available during the preliminary review; photographs taken from different angles also helped the jury to picture the actual works. Thus, we had to
carefully review the documents to finally select 16 short-listed works. The selection rate was only 14.4%.
In the final review, the jurors examined the actual works. One entry in the final review looked significantly different from the original photographs,
and the organizer disqualified it. The jury then narrowed down the field of the remaining 15 works to five prize winning works, and finally ranked them Sculpture
into the top three prize winners and two Award of Merit winners.
First Prize winner "Walking in the Mountains" by CHIU Yung-Feng is a large-scale kiln-fired ceramic pseudo-installation. Though the height was
only 55 centimeters, the length and width were 250 and 195 centimeters respectively. This is a rare case of a clay sculpture winning First Prize at the Da
Dun Fine Arts Exhibition. The artist wants to present a bleak dystopian mountain scene and reflect on the natural sceneries that are disappearing with
environmental changes, fully reflecting his inner landscape.
Second Prize winner "Wisdom Flower Ignorant Grass" by YEH Chu-Hsiu expresses that harmony and peace of our society require "no ignorant
grass growing on the field of heart, wisdom flowers blossoming everywhere." It means that wisdom flower does not blossom in those whose field of heart
is covered by ignorant grass; one needs to tame the mind and achieve tranquility and peace for wisdom flower to blossom in the barren field. The work is
made of wood, FRP, and metal.
Third Prize went to LU Chin-Yi's "Between Forming," which features an upside-down human body and is full of dynamics and instability. The figure
is supported by the right arm on the base made of readymade object, forming a harmonious and intriguing scene. The artist wants to "dig deeper inside for
the definitions of creation or shaping."
Award of Merit winning "Fruity" by SHIH Cheng-Ze is an abstract sculpture of polished copper. Through color, design, and texture, the artist wants
to bring all creative conditions together perfectly to display a ray of round and smooth light that symbolizes joy, fullness, and positivity.
The other Award of Merit winning work is LIAO Chien-Shan's "Days of Finding Love," which is a spatial form of mixed media and diverse hues.
The base and the subject above it are brought together into one. The artist uses the "heart" symbol to represent love. The curve above represents his own
pursuit of love in the past and the flow of time; the heart below goes through a mouth, as courageous as a shaman about his or her belief. The giant base
underneath represents the accumulation of time. The top part and the bottom part of the work are like the yin and yang of Tai-Chi, blending dynamic and
static, and soft and hard, harmoniously together.
Sculpture includes different media, unlike graphic arts that are categorized into oil painting, watercolor painting, glue color painting, printmaking, and
more, based on the medium. When sculptures of stone, wood, copper, stainless steel, and mixed media, and installations are all categorized as sculpture,
it is very difficult to judge the works using a single set of standards. The jury did our best to combine both subjective and objective aesthetic views, and
selected works that demonstrated stronger "creativity;" grasp on the material and conveyance of content were also grading criteria. The selection rate of
this category was extremely low, and all the selected entries are wonderful works of art. As for those works that did not make it through the preliminary
review, please do not give up! Success is not miracle, but the trajectory of hard work; success is not luck, but the fruit of persistence and courage.