1075
JU MING
JU MING

细节
JU MING
(ZHU MING, B. 1938)
Taichi Series
signed in Chinese; dated '2000' (engraved on middle back)
wood sculpture
53 x 35 x 57 cm. (20 7/8 x 13 3/4 x 22 1/2 in.)
Executed in 2000
来源
Private Collection, Asia

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拍品专文

" In terms of technique, while the subject matter keeps changing, the spirit of sculpture and carving techniques remain constant through time. This is the concept I'm talking about when I talk about 'art as self-cultivation'. "?- Ju Ming

It was Ju Ming's Taichi series that established him as an eminent position in the international art scene, but in fact Ju had been opening up new vistas for modern Taiwan sculpture ever since his Nativist series of the mid 1970s. For several decades, following the principle of "art as self-cultivation," he continued to achieve new artistic heights, in both the form and expressive content of his sculpture. He developed his own unique artistic language, preserving the value of China's traditional cultural symbols within the modern abstract movement. In this season's day sale, Christie's is presenting significant works by Ju Ming, ranging from his early Nativist Series and Taichi Series to his recent Living World Series . In these sculptures we see Ju Ming conveying a Chinese cultural spirit in a modernist sculptural language, retaining certain creative concepts while evolving other aspects of his style.

Ju Ming's Taichi Series are not merely representations of martial arts but conveys deeper conceptions on the essence of art. In Ju's concise and austerely executed Taichi Series (Lot 1076) from 1982, his confident cuts configures a pose that is balanced without being static, demonstrating a transitory moment before the figure's release of his stored-up energy; the well-formed geometrical blocks of the sculpture revealing Ju Ming's familiarity with his medium, and the unique physical language of taichi . Emphasizing different centers of gravity for the figures in his Taichi Series (Lot 1077) and Taichi Series (Lot 1078) from the '90s, the former emphasizes muscular strength in the legs, and overall, a concentrated power with its two arms hanging, waiting for an explosion of energy. The geometric blocks of the latter is depicted far from a realistic execution and instead displays the artist's aesthetic and conceptual connection for taichi movements with sculptural modeling, in overall to create a work with a great sense of a sweeping movement.

With more than 20 years of collected experience in sculpting and practicing taichi , Ju Ming's 2000 Taichi Series (Lot 1075) shows individual figures in opposing stances, and with ingenious sculpted blocks to present multiple figures sparring at close range, and adeptly captures the tension of this event. Through this semi-abstract work Ju demonstrates his understanding of the human form and the dynamics of movement by omitting unnecessary elements, and with this method, regardless of the viewing angle, we are able to follow the flow of moves and counter-moves, and the subtle balance between rest and motion in the sculpture itself.