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Juror's Statement

CHENG Tai-Le

類 篆 刻
Da Dun Fine Arts Exhibition has had the Seal Engraving category since its inauguration, and played a key role in encouraging seal-engraving talents
in Taiwan over nearly three decades. This year, a total of 25 artists participated in the competition. It may not seem a lot compared to other categories,
but the number far exceeded other domestic art competitions and exhibitions with seal engraving category. It was arguably the fiercest competition in the
seal engraving circles. From the entries, we could see all kinds of styles and expressions, which offered a glimpse into the different directions pursued by
young and veteran artists today. The selected works also reflected how jurors reviewed works of different creative directions. From utilization to maturity
of carving techniques, interpretation of ancient texts, consideration and innovation of spacing and alignment, understanding and integration of calligraphy,
to contents and inscriptions, jurors used the above criteria to analyze the entries' achievement in this genre and give them appropriate scores, finally
reaching the results below:
The First Prize winning "Shangyouzhai Recent Works of Seal Art" by YUKI KAWAUCHI are influenced by the school of famed Japanese seal
engravers SENRO KAWAI and TOAN KOBAYASHI. KAWAUCHI excels in large seals and demonstrates decisive strokes, creating a refreshing and
swift style. On this foundation, he incorporates the composition and arrangement of ancient seals, making spacings and variations of characters more fluid
and natural, which are especially evident in his expressions of smaller seals. KAWAUCHI won Second Prize last year, and has taken his craft to another Seal Engraving
level this year, displaying a more refined and distinctive style. Congratulations.
Originated from Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine, the Second Prize winning "Empty Mind, Pure Spirit" by JHUANG Jhe-Yen is a
reflection on modern people's pursuit of material things and lack of spiritual pillar, as the author conveys through the seals his pursuit of ideals. The work
features meticulous and sophisticated carvings influenced by the styles of TENG Shih-Ju, CHAO Shu-Ju, and even modern seal engravers. Though his
personal style is not as obvious, Chuang demonstrates sound fundamentals and has great potentials in the future.
Third Prize winning "Seal Carving Works by Wei-Ting" by CHIU Wei-Ting features mainly bronze inscriptions from Western Zhou and the Chu script
of the Warring States, presenting diverse techniques; though influenced by popular Mainland Chinese seal engraving styles, he is able to demonstrate
calmness and natural fluidity and use the carving knife as writing brush to display own style. He is a rising star in seal engraving with great expectations.
Award of Merit winning "Learning Engraved Seal From the Ancients" by CHEN Ho-Ming uses brass as the material; on the foundation of Han
dynasty's rushed style, he utilizes contemporary carving tools on the brass material and references ancient seals for spacing and composition, presenting
an elegant and hefty style. The future would be even brighter if he could overcome the limitations of the material.
Award of Merit winning "Innocent Heart" by LIU Kuang-Yi is inspired by his daily reflections and thoughts, presenting a clear theme. The work
features diverse styles and strikes a balance between neat rigidity and free creativity, showcasing his sound fundamentals; however, the entry is also
judged on the author's stylistic consistency, which is an area with room for improvement.
Despite the waning of traditional arts in today's world, the number of seal engraving lovers continues to grow steadily because, on one hand, many
seal engravers are also dedicated to teaching and promoting the art, and the genre is supported and encouraged by art exhibitions on the other, giving rise
to many outstanding new-generation seal engravers, which is truly fortunate. We look forward to seeing more new bloods bringing new innovative ideas
to share with all seal engraving lovers on this path of learning from the old and innovating the new.